Italian Catholic priest Nicola Corradi
Credit: CNA/ ANDRES LARROVERE/AFP via Getty Image Two Catholic priests have been convicted of sexually abusing students at an institute that cared for deaf children. The priests have been sentenced to more than 40 years in an Argentine prison. Their victims say one abuser should have been stopped seven years before his arrest, when he was accused of abusing children at a school in Italy.
Fr Nicola Corradi, an 83-year-old Italian, sat in a wheelchair while he was sentenced to 42 years in prison last week, alongside Fr Horacio Corbacho, 59, sentenced to 45 years. A lay employee, gardener Armando Gomez, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
The abuse took place at the now-closed Antonio Provolo Institute for Deaf and Hearing Impaired children in Argentina’s Mendoza province. The trial concerned more than 20 instances of abuse in all, including charges of rape, sexual touching, and corruption of minors. The students were reportedly forced to watch pornography or perform sex acts among themselves.
The cases involve 10 students, though about 20 have made abuse accusations. The abusers especially targeted children who spent the night in the institute’s shelters, and the victims said they were afraid to report for fear of living in poverty after being expelled or for fear their parents would be punished.
The students were typically from poor families and had communication limitations. The crimes took place from 2004 to 2016, when Fr Corradi, Fr Corbacho, and others were arrested and the school shut down.