Pope Francis speaks during a mass at the Manila Cathedral, January 16, 2015. Pope Francis called on the Philippine government on Friday to tackle corruption and hear the cries of the poor suffering from "scandalous social inequalities" in Asia&#
Pope Francis speaks during a mass at the Manila Cathedral, January 16, 2015. Pope Francis called on the Philippine government on Friday to tackle corruption and hear the cries of the poor suffering from "scandalous social inequalities" in Asia's most Catholic country. REUTERS/ Stefano Rellandini Pope Francis speaks during a m

An Italian priest named Fr Silverio Mura is in danger of being defrocked depending on the result of an investigation on accusations of sexual molestation by a 39-year-old man named Diego. The alleged abuse happened when Diego was 13 and Mura was his religion teacher.

Diego recalls that Fr Mura invited him to his apartment on Brothers Grimm Street after class in 1989, the Washington Post reports. The priest tricked him into kissing. Fr Mura allegedly invited him again several times when he went beyond a kiss into sexual abuse.

In 2010, he filed a complaint with the Diocese of Naples, but the case dragged. In 2012, Fr Mura was transferred to another school where there were many young men whom the religion teacher also allegedly abused.

Because of his suppression of sexual abuse over four year, Diego suffered from abdominal pains and frequent vomiting, according to hospital studies. He is also taking medication for anxiety and depression.

When Diego learned the situation, he wrote Pope Francis in March 2014, who escalated the case which led to the ongoing probe against Fr Mura. Such investigations usually take at least a year to resolve.

What Pope Francis did is typical of the reform that the pontiff has initiated since he replaced Pope Benedict XVI as head of the Roman Catholic Church. However, he is encountering stiff resistance from the church bureaucracy and some clergy whose vested interest has been dented, to say the least, by the reforms.

The wave of scandals caused by the paedophile priests and bishops is seen by church observers as contributory factors to Pope Benedict’s sudden retirement. With his replacement in 2013 by Pope Francis, the church was more transparent.

One example is the publication of a report that from 2004 through 2014, the church has defrocked 848 priests involved in abuse cases, while another 2,572 were meted lighter sentences. In September, Vatican placed under house arrest Josef Wesolowski, the former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, and initiated criminal proceedings against him for allegedly abusing minors.

Meanwhile, the pope’s crusade against abusive priests would be tested again in another Latin American nation following his appointment this March of Fr Juan Barros as bishop of a southern Chilean diocese. Abuse victims are protesting Barros’s promotion because he reportedly covered up the alleged abuses by Fr Fernando Karadima, his mentor and superior, in the 1980s and 1990s of young boys, report CBS.

The sexual abuse on three male victims, which took place at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, were allegedly witnessed by Fr Barros. He has declined to comment on the accusations of cover up but insisted he learned of Karadima’s abuse in 2010 on TV.

The Vatican found Karadima guilty of sex abuse in 2011 and sentenced the paedophile priest, now 84, a cloistered life of penitence and prayer, which abuse victims’ group would likely find too light.

To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au

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