The Catholic Church in Italy is facing an embarrassing scandal after the arrest of a priest accused of demanding sexual favors from immigrants seeking political asylum in Sicily, the Christian Headlines website reports today (June 26, 2014).
The Rev. Sergio Librizzi -- who was also the director of the Catholic charity Caritas in the Sicilian city of Trapani -- was arrested at his parish on June 24 as he was preparing for Mass.
Prosecutors charge that Librizzi sought sexual favors from newly arrived migrants fleeing the Middle East and Africa in exchange for help with residency visas, as well as from the poor who sought help from the charity.
The priest's arrest is especially embarrassing for the church given Pope Francis' strong stand in support of the immigrants flooding the area. Soon after his election last year, Francis' first pastoral visit outside Rome was to the island of Lampedusa -- near Sicily -- where he called for greater solidarity and an end to the "global indifference" over refugees.
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