Child sex scandals roiling the Roman Catholic church spread to Brazil after the Vatican said three priests were under investigation following allegations of child abuse.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1028200


The Vatican's acknowledgement takes controversies that have rocked the church in the United States and more recently in Europe to the country with the largest Catholic population in world. About 74 percent of Brazil's 140 million people identify as Catholics.

SBT television last week aired video from a hidden camera showing father Marques Barbosa, 82, having sex with a 19-year-old boy in the northeastern state of Alagoas.

After the act, the priest's face is identified as he looks toward the camera and says "Who's there?" "Who is it?"

The report on the program "Conexao Reporter" also included charges by three former altar boys that they too had been sexually abused by local priests.

After the show was aired, Alagoas bishop Valerio Breda ordered the removal from church work of priests Luiz Marques Barbosa, Edilson Duarte and Raimundo Gomes.

"One was removed from his parish and faces charges in the civil justice system," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told AFP, adding that the other two had been suspended from their duties pending an investigation.

Graphic video of Marques Barbosa's abuse last year with a victim identified as Fabiano is being sold on the streets of the town of Arapiraca, website Alagoas 24 horas reported.

Elsewhere in Latin America, a Spanish religious instructor was reported to have been jailed in Chile for possession of pornographic images of children.

A prosecutor said the priest, Jose Arregui, 53, would be tried for child pornography possession on March 24, the newspaper La Tercera's website reported.

Pedophile priest scandals have rocked several churches in Europe since the Irish government released two explosive reports in November.

Revelations followed in Switzerland, The Netherlands, Austria and Germany - the homeland of Pope Benedict XVI.

Both the pope and his older brother Georg Ratzinger were caught up in the spiralling scandal in Germany.

The pope's former diocese of Munich confirmed a report that, as Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger in 1980, he had approved housing so that a known pedophile priest could seek therapy, while Georg directed a boys choir whose members later suffered abuse.

Vatican spokesman Lombardi charged at the weekend that there had been a "dogged focus" on the Ratzinger brothers in a bid "to personally implicate the Holy Father in questions of abuse."

"It is clear that these efforts have failed," he added.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power said Friday it had cut the odds on Pope Benedict XVI resigning after allegations of child abuse by priests in Germany gripped the Roman Catholic Church.
Ireland's biggest bookmaker, which has branches in Britain as well as Catholic Ireland, said it had cut the odds from 12 to 1 to 3 to 1 following a "cascade of bets."
The bookie also said it had cut the odds on Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze becoming the next Pontiff to 4 to 1, after what it called a significant gamble. The firm said Arinze was now the clear favourite.
Cardinal Angelo Scola of Italy, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, and Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, all on 8 to 1 were next most likely to succeed.
"The dark clouds of clerical abuse scandals show no sign of abating and recent reports from Germany are surely a little too close to home for the Pope," the company said in a statement.
The head of Germany's Roman Catholic Church apologised to victims of child abuse Friday and met Pope Benedict at the Vatican who encouraged him to press ahead with measures to root it out.
As abuse allegations multiplied in Austria and the Netherlands, the Vatican expressed alarm about the gravity of the crisis engulfing the Church this week.
Child abuse scandals in Ireland and the United States have wreaked havoc on the Church's reputation and finances, with the U.S. Church paying some $2 billion in settlements.

The Roman Catholic church will very soon be held accountable for the suffering of thousands of children in Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, the US, Brazil, and so many other places were it has abused innocent children.

These children are now adults and elders who have not forgotten about this, who will never be able to forget or forgive. There are members in my family who have personally suffered from this, and I can assure you, we are not talking about isolated cases, we are talking about systematic abuse of children and orphans placed in the care of the Catholic Church.

At last this bastion of hypocrisy will be brought down by its own sins.