Italy investigates 130 priests for abuse of deaf children, men, women over past 30 years

From The Telegraph in the UK:

A report by prosecutors said that not one of the cases was referred to the police by the local bishop.

Sergio Cavaliere, a lawyer who has compiled evidence on the cases, said: "It's an alarming figure if you consider that it's only the tip of the iceberg, if you think about all the cases that haven't shown up in the media or that haven't gone to court."

A prosecutor in Milan, Pietro Forno, who has won 10 convictions for paedophile priests, claimed that police suspected the existence of a "network of clergy who have a passion for minors".

He said abusive priests had been shuffled between dioceses, where they were free to molest more children.

"It seems that some chose the priesthood with the aim of being close to children," said Mr Forno, the head of a unit which investigates sex crimes.

While hundreds of alleged victims of paedophile clergy have come forward since the start of the year in Austria, Holland, Switzerland and Pope Benedict's native Germany, Italy has remained relatively untouched by the crisis.

But signs are emerging that Italian priests sexually abused children in their care and were protected from investigation by bishops who were desperate not to harm the reputation of the Church.

Allegations of abuse have been reported in Rome, Bologna and Bolzano, in the German-speaking Sud Tyrol region.

In Verona, in the north, almost 70 deaf men and women have claimed they were raped and molested over a period of about 30 years at a Church-run institute for deaf children.