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