Church ordered to compensate child sex abuse victim by court

Rome, Aug 28: A first in Italy, moral compensation came in the form of the Catholic Church paying a woman, who was allegedly sexually abused by a priest when she was 9.

A court has ordered the Catholic Church to pay 700,000 euros to the family of a woman who was reportedly sexually abused by a priest when she was a child.

Parish priest Giorgio Carli was arrested in 2003, accused of raping the woman when she was nine until she was 14. He was convicted of the abuse but in 2009 was acquitted by Italy's supreme court under the statute of limitations. Carli, 48, has always professed his innocence.

The court in Bolzano said the dioceses of Bolzano and Brixen and a local parish must pay 500,000 euros to the woman and 100,000 euros each to her parents.

"This sentence is probably the first of its kind in Italy, and allows for - at least in part - a form of moral compensation," said the woman's lawyer.

IANS