VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The alleged victim of sexual abuse at a Vatican youth seminar told the court on Wednesday that his assailant wanted to have sex in a bathroom behind an altar in St. Peter’s Basilica, but he resist advances.
The alleged victim, who is now 28 and only identified as LG, testified at the last trial hearing two priests, one accused of abuse and the other of covering up the attacks.
LG has alleged that Gabriele Martinelli, now 28 and now a priest, repeatedly forced him to have sex, especially when they were both minors in the Pius X pre-seminar.
The seminary welcomes altar boys who serve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica (the papal church with a dome in the heart of the Vatican) and plan to become priests.
The events are supposed to have taken place between 2007 and 2012, and Martinelli later became a priest in northern Italy.
LG said Martinelli would slip into his bed at night and force him to touch him and also have sex in another room. Martinelli, who testified last month, has denied the allegations.
During a three-hour hearing on Wednesday, LG said Martinelli had tried to persuade him to have sex in a bathroom behind one of the altars in St. Peter’s Basilica while the two were to serve Mass.
“I was surprised,” LG said, adding that he refused to follow Martinelli, who was naked under his cassock, to the bathroom.
The other defendant is Father Enrico Radice, 72, who was rector at the time and is accused of covering up the alleged abuses.
Prosecutors say Radice did not prevent Martinelli from becoming a priest after leaving pre-seminary even though he knew of the abuses.
Radice, who had given Martinelli oversight responsibilities over the other boys, denies this.
Report by Philip Pullella; Edited by Alison Williams