A few days after the appointments to lead the parishes, the scandal erupts in the Diocese of Reggio Calabria. In recent days, Archbishop Fortunato Morrone has appointed Don Carmelo Perrello as parish administrator of Santa Maria del Buon Consiglio in Concessa, on the northern outskirts of Reggio Calabria. The priest has been accused in the past of sexual acts with a minor. It was an article on the website “Il Dispaccio.it”, yesterday, which linked the news of the appointment with Don Perrello’s judicial past. News that led the Guarantor for Children of the Calabria Region Antonio Marziale to take a tough stance, starting from the words of Pope Francis: «Sexual abuse by the clergy is a monstrosity. A priest, said the Pontiff, cannot continue to be a priest if he is a molester. He can not. Why he is sick or a criminal, I don’t know. The priest exists to direct men to God and not to destroy men in the name of God. Zero tolerance. And he must continue to be like this.”
«I was chased by insistent and worried voices – explains the guarantor – I was not aware of the story of this priest. I did some research and found a lot of material. If in reality it is a prescribed crime and not acquitted the difference is abysmal. I must think and act with the laws of the country in which I exercise my mandate – adds Marziale – and acquittal means that the State investigated you and found no elements to convict you. The statute of limitations is different, which in criminal law determines the extinction, and not the acquittal, of a crime following the passage of a specific period of time”.
