Archbishop Luigi Ventura (75) had produced a doctor's note saying it was too dangerous for him to travel from Rome to the trial in Paris during the coronavirus epidemic.

Lawyers for the accusers of the retired papal envoy asked for the trial be postponed because he wasn't present.

The court ruled against a postponement.

A detailed testimony from multiple men stated Ventura groped their buttocks in public settings.

The accusers included a former seminarian, Mahe Thouvenel, who said Ventura grabbed him repeatedly when they celebrated Mass in December 2018.

"These are facts that happened to me, that hurt me, and I suffered a lot," he said.

Asked in court what he would have said to Ventura had the former papal envoy attended the trial, Thouvenel replied: "Monseigneur, why did you do that?"

Represented by his defense team, Ventura was tried on five counts of alleged sexual assault.

Three of his alleged victims were in court.

Ventura has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Sexual assault is punishable by up to five years imprisonment and fines in France.

His lawyer, Solange Doumic, told the court the case had been blown out of proportion.

It has become "the trial of the Vatican, of hidden homosexuality at the Vatican," she argued.

The accusations are "minor," she said.

While agreeing Ventura touched hips or backs, his intentions were never sexual, Doumic said.

As none of his gestures lasted more than a few seconds, he might not have realized they could be regarded as inappropriate, she explained.

She also said Ventura had experienced behavioral problems since he was operated on for a brain tumor in 2016.

The Vatican lifted Ventura's diplomatic immunity, allowing for his trial.

However, the prosecutor, Alexis Bouroz, produced a Vatican letter at the trial on Tuesday. It said Rome still reserves the right not to apply any eventual punishment for Ventura, if he is convicted.

"The only question I ask myself is why does he deny the facts?" Bouroz said. "This question will remain unanswered."

He asked for a 10-month suspended jail term.

Lawyers for the alleged victims were not pleased at the suggestion the Vatican could spare Ventura punishment, if he is convicted.

"The Holy See doesn't give a hoot for your deliberations," Thouvenel's lawyer told the three judges.

Thouvenel said his seminary expelled him after he filed a police complaint.

Another accuser, Mathieu De La Souchere, said Ventura touched his buttocks repeatedly during a public reception.

The judge said during prior questioning, Ventura he had a "Latin" temperament: there was nothing sexual about his gestures.

"Mr. Ventura is lying," De La Souchere told the court.

"There is talk of a hand on a buttock," he said. "It was more than that."

The Vatican recalled Ventura last year and he later retired. It has recalled other diplomats when they get into trouble during overseas postings.

The court is expected to deliver its verdict on 16 December.

Source

• US News
• Image: La Croix

In doing so, the Vatican has cleared the way for Ventura (74) to face criminal charges in France.

This decision to waive diplomatic immunity is unprecedented in the history of modern Vatican diplomacy.

"This is an extraordinary gesture that confirms the will of the Nuncio (ambassador), expressed from the beginning of this situation, to collaborate fully with the French judicial authorities," the press office says.

The news of Ventura's alleged assaults became public last February after Paris City Hall told the public prosecutor's office that a young executive claimed Ventura had repeatedly touched him during a reception.

Other complainants have since emerged. Six people are now accusing Archbishop Ventura of similar offences.

They include a diplomat from the Quai d'Orsay and an 18 year-old seminarian who was asked not to return to his seminary after he complained about Ventura.

In addition, victims who did not wish to file a complaint with the French courts have also spoken to the Vatican about Ventura.

Besides the current raft of complaints, other French seminarians have mentioned concerns about Ventura.

"When he went to visit the seminaries, he asked his secretary to get the telephone numbers of some seminarians whom he then invited to the nunciature," the complainant from city hall said.

"One of them was warned that the nuncio was 'tactile' but that he should not be offended.

His lawyer describes this as "a relationship of abuse of power."

"Just because it's men who are being assaulted doesn't mean it should be minimised," she warns.

"These are premeditated acts against victims of different ages, always of [legal] age, but in a vulnerable state shocked by the situation in which they find themselves."

Ventura has denied all accusations against him and, until his diplomatic immunity was waived, his accusers' lawyers were not given the opportunity to question him.

However, the Vatican's decision to waive Ventura's diplomatic immunity will allow the Paris prosecutor to continue with his proceedings.

He can now choose either to close the case or to refer it to a criminal court which will have to rule on the possible guilt of the nuncio.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• La Croix
• CNN
• Image: BBC