Vatican hands down first-ever conviction for sexual abuse committed on its grounds

The Vatican has handed down its first-ever conviction for sexual abuse committed on its grounds to an Italian priest, Gabriele Martinelli, 31, who had previously been acquitted of the same and other crimes for lack of evidence. Martinelli is a former student of Saint Pius X Pre Seminary, a vocational institute in the Vatican that hosts the pope's altar boys. In 2020, he was first tried in court for sexually abusing a seminary student he was tutoring in August 2010, but the case has failed to find him guilty of the charges. That initial verdict was reversed on Tuesday, when a Vatican court foun…

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