Documentary Alleging Pope Shielded Priests To Air in Italy
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Italian state-owned television, RAI SpA, agreed to broadcast a documentary alleging that Pope Benedict XVI helped shield priests who sexually abused children before he became pontiff. RAI executives decided to flout political pressure and air the documentary “Sex Crimes and the Vatican,” shown October 1 last year in Britain, to domestic audiences. A former communications minister who now heads the parliamentary committee for RAI, Mario Landolfi, has asked the director general of RAI, Claudio Cappon, to ban the broadcast. First shown on the investigative British TV program “Panorama,” the 40-minute report alleges that the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger approved measures to block disclosures about sexual abuse of children at the hands of Roman Catholic priests.
