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Tuesday March 20 10:36 AM ET

Report: Priests, Missionaries Sexually Abuse Nuns

By Steve Pagani

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican (news - web sites) acknowledged

Tuesday a damning report that some priests and missionaries were forcing

nuns to have sex with them, and were in some cases committing rape and

forcing the victims to have abortions.

Some nuns were forced to take the contraceptive pill, the report cited

in the Rome la Repubblica daily said.

The Vatican said the issue was restricted to a certain geographical area

but the report cited cases in 23 countries, including the United States,

Brazil, the Philippines, India, Ireland and Italy.

A Vatican statement said ``in relation to the news of cases of sexual

abuse against nuns committed by priests and missionaries, Chief Vatican

spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls had the following announcement:

``The problem is known about and is restricted to a certain geographical

area.

``The Holy See is dealing with the issue in collaboration with bishops,

the Union of Superiors General (grouping of heads of male religious

orders) and the International Union of Superiors General (heads of

female religious orders.''

While the Vatican did not name the geographical area, the report said

most incidents of sexual abuse against nuns occurred in Africa where the

nuns were identified as ``safe'' following the onset of the HIV (news -

web sites) and AIDS (news - web sites) viruses devastating the

continent.

Nuns Forced To Abort

Charges made in the report, signed with names and surnames, were made

known to Church authorities on several occasions throughout the 1990s,

the article by la Repubblica's respected Vatican correspondent Marco

Politi said.

The author of the report was nun and physician Maura O'Donohue, who

presented it to the head of the Vatican's Congregation for Holy Orders,

Cardinal Martinez Somalo, in February 1995.

He ordered a working group from the Congregation to study the problem

with O'Donohue, who was AIDS coordinator for Cafod, the London-based

Roman Catholic Fund for Overseas Development.

O'Donohue made specific reference to certain cases, one in which a

priest forced a nun to have an abortion, after which she died. He then

officiated at her requiem mass.

In reference to Africa, her report said: ``It is impossible (there) for

a woman or an adolescent to refuse a man, especially an older man and in

particular a priest.''

In Africa, certain priests sought out nuns ``for fear of contracting

AIDS with prostitutes.''

``There are cases in which priests make nuns take the pill, ...and there

was one case of 20 nuns in one religious community being pregnant at the

same time,'' the article cited the report as saying.

A mother superior was continually ignored by the local bishop when she

complained that priests in the diocese had made 29 of her nuns pregnant.

The bishop relieved her of her duties, the report said without

identifying the diocese.

The charges first appeared in the Kansas City-based National Catholic

Reporter weekly on March 16 and on a small Italian religious news agency

Adista, which also publishes weekly.

Sexual Favors

In 1998, Marie McDonald, mother superior of the Missionaries of Our Lady

of Africa, presented her report on ''sexual abuse and rape committed by

priests and bishops.''

The Vatican is monitoring the situation, making sure bishops were aware

of the phenomenon, but no direct action has been taken, the article

said.

Navarro-Valls said in his statement: ``We are working on two fronts,

training of people and finding a solution to individual cases.

``Some negative cases cannot let us forget the often heroic faith

expressed by the large majority of those men and women in religious

orders and of the clergy.''

La Repubblica went on to quote McDonald as saying: ``As far as I know,

no inspections have taken place... There are some nuns who become

financially dependent on priests, who can then ask for sexual favors in

return.''

``Then there is the conspiracy of silence which makes the problem worse.

Only if we confront this together, will we be able to find a solution,''

she said.

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