Priest sex-abuse film opens in Italy around papal election
Mea Maxima Culpa follows victims at school for the deaf
06 March, 21:03
(ANSA) - Florence, March 6 - A new documentary about priest
sex abuse is opening in Italy around the time that cardinals are
convening in Rome to elect a new pope.
Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney's new film Mea
Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God premieres in Florence
March 18.
The hard-hitting documentary about the Vatican's record on
managing child-abusing priests spans decades and continents,
beginning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Father Lawrence Murphy
is believed to have abused up to 200 schoolboys as head of the
St John's School for the Deaf.
Gibney and his production team also look into the
headline-grabbing Irish case of Tony Walsh, a convicted serial
abuser of both sexes who preyed on children at funerals, and the
way the Vatican hushed up the sex crimes of Mexican priest
Marcial Maciel, a senior associate of Pope John Paul II, before
sending him to retire in a Florida mansion.The film hits movie theaters nationwide on March 20. Cardinals are currently in Rome ahead of the conclave to elect a successor to Benedict XVI, who stepped down last week.
They have yet to announce a date for the start of the conclave. Advocacy groups have been pressuring cardinals to make priest sex abuse - especially of children - a central focal point when considering candidates for the new pontiff.
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