VATICAN CITY (CNS): A special investigator, appointed by the Pope, has started to look into a pornography and sex scandal in an Austrian seminary.
The seminary in Sankt Polten, 80 km west of Vienna, grabbed headlines in mid-July when Austrian media published pictures of priests and students engaged in sexual acts. Austrian authorities said the images had been found along with more than 40,000 photos and videos, which included child pornography, on seminary computers.
The Vatican announced on July 20 that the Pope was sending Austrian Bishop Klaus Kung of Feldkirch, a member of Opus Dei, as apostolic visitor to the Diocese of Sankt Polten and the seminary there.
An apostolic visitation is a formal Vatican investigation into a particular, usually serious, problem in a local Church, diocese or religious order. The visitor’s mandate generally involves investigating and evaluating facts and reporting back to the Holy See, possibly with recommendations for a course of action.
The seminary rector and vice-rector resigned after the incriminating photos were published in the media and a Polish seminarian was charged by Austrian authorities.
