Italy priest says rape victim asked for it
ROME: An Italian priest prompted outrage by going on Facebook to tell a girl who said she had been raped that it was her fault for getting drunk and hanging around with immigrants.
"I'm sorry but if you swim in the piranha tank, you cannot complain if you lose a limb," Mr Lorenzo Guidotti, a parish priest in Bologna, wrote on the social media site, according to Italian media reports.
In a lengthy rant, he chastised the underage girl, who told police she had been raped by a North African man she had met in the city while drunk.
She said she was attacked by him and woke up later, half-naked and with her bag gone.
Mr Guidotti also wrote: "Sweetie, I'm sorry, but... you get revoltingly drunk... and then who do you go off with? A North African?"
In reference to those who support Italy giving migrants shelter, he wrote: "Do you understand that, along with the alcohol, you've gulped down the ideological tirade about 'welcoming everyone'?"
The post was visible to only Mr Guidotti's friends, but it was picked up and published by Radio Citta del Capo online, from where it went viral.
The Bologna archdiocese distanced itself from Mr Guidotti, saying his opinion "in no way reflects that of the Church, which condemns every sort of violence".
Mr Guidotti first claimed he had not been attacking the girl personally, just "trying to make kids and their parents think". He later apologised unreservedly to the victim and her family, La Repubblica daily said. - AFP
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now