Documents that engage the church of Verona in case of abuse of the Argentine Provolo

Could someone have avoided abuse? Did someone want to stop them? This is what justice can not yet answer in the biggest case of pedophilia of the Argentine Catholic Church. This is what victims accuse priests, nuns and lay people of Instituto Provolo in Mendoza and L & # 39; money They hope that the Vatican will one day be able to answer. Two documents that PROFILE published and translated from Italian could be added to the list of indications indicating that the authorities of the Curia di Verona, Italy, knew what would have happened in the different Provolo offices.

In this northern Italian city lies the seat of this Catholic institution supposedly dedicated to teaching and taking care of deaf children. The Milan Espresso and PROFILE they have been working in recent weeks on the case of the priest Eliseo José Pirmati (83), arrested since the end of April 2019.

The prosecutor of La Plata Cecilia Cordfield He requested the extradition of Pirmati five weeks ago, after taking for granted that the 83-year-old Italian would be one of the priests who mistreat deaf children at the headquarters of the Plata at Provolo at least in the 80's and 90's.

The heartbreaking stories of the Provolo victims

Pirmati lived 37 years in La Plata, between 1970 and December 2017, when he left the country to resettle in Verona. On Sunday 9 June, the media reported that the wanted priest was living in the headquarters of the Stradone congregation Antonio Provolo in that city.

It is at the seat of this congregation that this story of systematic abuse of deaf children who attended the institute of education and the home of the institution. Crimes, violence and barbarity would have been reproduced as a chronic nightmare during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and until 2015, deployed by Verona, La Plata and Mendoza. It is here that Pirmati returned and took refuge in Argentine justice.

First document

The first document is a registration of the Prosecutor General's Office in the courts of Verona (Italy) and dates from 2017. It is the request for archiving a presentation of the bishop from the city, Giuseppe Zenti, the highest authority of the Catholic Church in this jurisdiction.

* Zenti is bishop of Verona since June 30, 2007. He was ordained priest by Bishop Veronese, bishop of the time, Giuseppe Carraro, one of the priests accused of having been badually badaulted by D & B Former deaf students from Provolo in Italy. Carraro died in 1980 and is being beatified.

* The story published and translated in full in this article reflects the bishop's version of a dispute with the badociation of deaf former Verona Provolo, led by Giorgio Dalla Bernardina. One of the points of the dispute is the recognition that the Church knew and protected the priest Nicola Bruno Corradi, the main accused of abuse in La Plata and Mendoza, as well as in Italy. Corradi shared the management of Provolo de Platen with Pirmati until 1997. He was then transferred to the Mendoza Institute.

* The Italian authorities wonder in the minutes if Corradi was indeed transferred from Verona to Argentina by the congregation of Provolo in 1970, when he was suspected of being abused by Italian students from the institute or where he had left Italy. motu proprio to install in La Plata. This point is central and even the bishopric of Verona and the Vatican have not been able to answer it.

* Victims claim that Provolo and the congregation knew that Corradi was a pedophile when he was sent to work with deaf children in Argentina.

* "The fact of not supervising the conduct of the priest in Argentina is however a behavior that goes beyond the legal responsibility of Mgr. Zenti and which perhaps concerns only its" moral "responsibility", concluded the office the Attorney General. The Curia argues that she had no power over the Provolo as it was an "autonomous" congregation that was directly dependent on the Vatican.

* In Italy, the case of abuse was uncovered in 2009 thanks to a survey on L & # 39; Espresso from Milan. Testimonies from at least 13 deaf mistreated by priests and the confession of one of the priests of the institute have been published. The Church opened an investigation, but the case ended almost unpunished.

* In 2011, almost all 26 priests accused by former students were acquitted by the Church and only "precautionary warnings" were imposed on them. Only one of the defendants was sentenced, as revealed L & # 39; Espresso.

* In the meantime, abuses continued in Argentina, according to victims who began testifying in courts years later to Mendoza and La Plata.

They demand justice for the deaf children mistreated in the Próvolo: "The Pope did nothing"

Second document

In the second document, you can read a handwritten note indicating that the bishop of Verona, Giuseppe ZentiHe was interrogated at the premises of the Bishopric to guarantee him "confidentiality" and avoid going to court.

* Zenti acknowledges in his statement of 2017 that he was aware of the charges against Nicola Corradi since 2007.

* The present bishop of Verona denies the accusations of former students of Provolo and even claims before the public prosecutor that the multiple complaints of alleged systematic abuse of the Provolo students in Argentina are due to the fact that the victims want to keep the fines". properties "of the Institute.

* Zenti admits to having paid 10,000 euros to the alumni badociation headed by Giorgio Dalla Bernardina for defaming them by stating at a press conference in 2009 that the victims had tried to to blackmail. The data was unknown.

*Giovanni Bisoli He is one of the former students of the Provolo of Verona who helped to discover the case. He publicly accused the former Bishop of Verona, Giuseppe Carraro, of having abused him as a child before the authorities.

Abuse: one of the priests of Provolo is hidden in the congregation in Italy

General Office

In the courses of Verona

File request,

After having seen the minutes of the criminal proceedings with the margin indicated, entered in the register on 09/02/2017 to 00 000, against Zenti, Giuseppe, and for the facts of the specified cover.

Consider that:

As regards Giuseppe Zenti's position, no sentence of criminal responsibility seems to be imputed to him.

In fact, he is private and dependent, and he also depended in his day on the Congregation of the Society of Mary, which is an ecclesiastical organization. The latter in turn depends on the Congregation for the Consecrated Life of the Vatican.

Therefore, any dependence of the Provolo Institute of the Curia of Verona must be excluded.

A second observation refers to the fact that Don Corradi, Nicola, arrested in Argentina on 28/11/16 for a crime of badual abuse of a child, has moved (or has been transferred?) In this country in January 1970.

So on that date, while Zenti would not have yet held the position of bishop in Verona, he should have carefully controlled the place to which the priest was destined, in light of his pedophile tendencies, already known inside. of the congregation.

On the other hand, the failure to monitor the behavior of the priest in Argentina is a behavior that goes beyond Msgr Zenti's legal responsibility and perhaps only concerns his "moral" responsibility.

With regard to the alleged forgery of Giovanni Bisoli's school report, which was not found in the original text, there was no evidence to identify those responsible for the eventual forgery.

Arriving finally at the complaint of libel filed by Bishop Zenti against the subjects of the "group" Dalla Bernardina, who publicly accused him, in the press, of failing to supervise Mr. Don Corradi, even though the Provolo Institute did not belong to the jurisdiction of the diocese and was therefore independent of it.

At this point, it is worth noting the absolute lack of bad faith on the part of the "detractors" of the Curia, in the face of horrific acts of pedophilia committed by priests of the Institute on deaf-mute children entrusted to their care. care (see below). testimonies of victims and confessions made by Mr Piccoli during a recorded interview, as well as the confessions made by the Curia itself), considered in good faith to annul criminal responsibility of the bishop of Verona under the terms of art. 40 2 ° c Penal Code

Having regard to Articles 408, 411, 125 disp. Att c.p, p,

He requested that the proceedings be presented and that the deeds be returned to his office. Send to the secretariat for questions for which she is responsible.

Requests: Issuance of the decree of presentation to the person subject to the investigations of the aforementioned suspect in relation to the above-mentioned facts of the crime.

Abuse in the Próvolo: erotic letters hidden by an imputed priest

General Office

In the courses of Verona

Registers of declarations and receipt of the oral complaint

Today, February 14, 2017 at 16:10, the bishopric of Verona, the public prosecutor and the provincial commander of the Carabinieri of Verona and cap. Luca Bonizzoni, also as an badistant, will proceed to the hearing of the bishop of Verona, Giuseppe Zenti.

Before the bishopric personally took the statement for reasons of confidentiality, he insists on the subject of the statements.

Vicar General Roberto Compostrini is also present.

The declarant is informed of the need, in accordance with the law, to document in each part the declarations to be made and that the necessary use will also be made, including with regard to the criminal proceedings already initiated before the court. Office for offenses of object of badual violence subject to statements.

"I am Giuseppe Zenti, born in San Martino Buon Albergo the 03/07/1947, bishop of Verona since June 30, 2007, who succeeded father Flavio Carraro and after more than three years in Vittorio Veneto, still in the quality of D & First, I was vicar of Father Flavio for two years, first as a parish priest in Legnago, then in the parish of María Immacolata in Borgo Milani, in the city, before being Professor of Literature at the Goberti School of Verona In his upper clbades for over 20 years, I was ordained a priest on June 26, 1971 by the venerable Bishop Giuseppe Carraro.

Upon my arrival in Verona as a bishop, I received a request to receive deaf mutes already students of the Instituto Provolo di Verona, which I gladly received, without knowing however, those former students who had joined the National Association of the Deaf and Dumb as Associates had led to internal disagreements, to a second badociation called Sordi Don Antonio Provolo, led by Giorgio Dalla Bernardina: and these are the last candidates to the audience.

I remember with precision, despite the time, that we were sitting in this same living room, me, Dalla Bernardina, a blonde woman who plays the role of interpreter, another deaf mute and his wife. The request, presented by Dalla Bernardina and formulated in a decisive and sudden way, was to ensure that they could freely use the building where they met, I think it was on the property of the Provolo Institute, Department of men, as well as the administration of the farm Cervi di San Zeno de la Montaña. By threatening Dalla Bernardina, who would otherwise have accused them of pedophilia (sic). To my question of who were the recipients of such a charge, "priests", they answered me. To which I replied: "Alive or dead?" He replied, "And alive and dead."

I replied that he would inform me and I did it in front of the Superior of the Don Provolo Institute, which, precisely, does not belong to the jurisdiction of the diocese, because it is a congregation of pontifical right endowed with its own regulation and its autonomy. The manager, the father Robert Frainer, who still occupies this position, told me that the institute had given them free access to the building through the payment of utilities, which the Dalla Bernardina badociation rejected. As for the Cervi farm, it was left in the hands of the Don Provolo Institute for the benefit of the deaf and dumb, which has therefore maintained its management. On this occasion, I learned the distinction mentioned in the introduction concerning the two badociated groups of deaf and dumb students of the Provolo Institute.

So much so that even the first group had asked for an audience through the intermediary of my secretary, who had thought of an error in the duplication of the application and not in the existence of two separate bodies .

I gave no answer to Dalla Bernardina, believing that the management of the situation was the responsibility of the Don Provolo Institute. Shortly after, a press campaign was launched in the weekly L'Espresso (I believe it was in January 2008) (NR: it was in January 2009) on the pedophilia that prevailed until 1984 in the Don Provolo Institute and on that implemented by the "Prelate of Verona". I notice that the term prelate is the exclusive prerogative of a bishop.

Then I called a press conference devoted to the idea of ​​the prelate that, after what I said, I could only identify myself in the director. , Giuseppe Carraro, incumbent bishop for 19 years and who had ordained me priest. I considered it an absurd and ignoble accusation and felt compelled to defend his memory, since he died on December 30, 1980.

During this one, I also explained the interview described with Dalla Bernardina.

I remember in particular that they asked me, in the light of the powerful televisions headlights and the impbade, if I considered these requests as blackmail and that I answered yes.

Next comes a series of articles in the press and on the TV show Mi Manda RAI TRE in the following years, in which Dalla Bernardina and another person reported being sodomized, a word that, in my opinion, was difficult to reproduce for a deaf-mute and involved in a crowd, under the altar of the church of the institute , in a group of showers with several minors and punishable with sticks and a strap. As far as I know, charges were written and made public.

He also obtained a criminal trial which resulted in a few years later a sentence that referred to Dr. Mario Sannite, judge in Verona and now retired, in which was released for the first time a deaf and dumb man named Giovanni Bisoli. He was heard by leading prosecutors as a witness at the trial and declared himself a repeat victim of Mon. Giuseppe Carraro, who would have had the habit of coming to the episcopate to mistreat him: a circumstance I remember well was skilled in prayer as a typical mental construct of a homobadual practitioner, c & 39; that is, deprived of all truth. In addition, at that time, the two sisters of the bishop lived in the bishopric, including a nun and two secretaries who certainly could not ignore the events described by Bisoli. Monseigneur, one of the two secretaries is still alive. Franco Fiorio, who systematically dismissed such facts.

Sannite's decision, it seems to me, concluded that three or four of the 24 priests out of a total of 27 accused of pedophilia could be infected.

And also that two theology students, already in service at the institute, had been fired because they were suspected of such practices.

All this certainly does not indicate an attitude to the Institute of Connivence Provolo or even a complicity in them.

I also remember this story, none of the former students of the institute, who at that time was badociated with the National Association of the Deaf and Dumb in the place of Dalla Bernardina's group, n 39 confirmed these events and, even in conversations with me, they never saw them.

And I also remember that two of the seven or eight sodomized statements of Dalla Bernardina's group were withdrawn for their charges once the contents of the signed statements had been established.

The group's reactions continued with the protests of Corso Porta Nueva during which the church of Verona and its bishop were offended, with masquerades and parodies. And I myself was accused of defamation for baderting this blackmail against Provolo who had me represented at the first meeting; so much so that, for a quiet life and despite my resistance, I decided to accept the application of the sanction with a compensation of 10 000 euros in favor of Dalla Bernardina's group; after which any form of complaint or even disturbance on your part has ceased. I mean three or four years ago.

A.D.R .: The priest recently arrested in Argentina on charges of pedophilia, according to the press, is Don Nicola Corradi, who belongs to the Provolo Institute. I can not say he was involved in the forensic investigation that I described. The truth is that the information published in the local press and the accusations that members of Dalla Bernardina's group have again moved have nothing to do with the curia, because, as I said, the congregation of the Provolo Institute is totally independent. and autonomous. Even the Curia can not act against the members of this congregation.

Therefore, as bishop of Verona, I was offended and defamed by the recent press articles and explanations that I attributed to Dalla Bernardina's group, in connection with the so-called deficiencies of the Curia in monitoring the work, at the time, of Don Corradi inside the institute, as well as omissions inherent in the interventions of the High Curia to stop it.

I commented this last story with Don Frainer himself; who informed me, it seems to me that even these last accusations against Corradi and the creed of other priests belonging to the congregation of Provolo in the Argentine cities of Mendoza and La Plata are perhaps the possession of the beautiful properties of the Institute in these places. This also in agreement with the administrative authority of the place.

As far as I am concerned, I would therefore like to express definitively the desire to put an end to these disturbing and serious acts against the Curia and, that if the defamation is found, the perpetrators will be judged and, if they are held to responsible, punished.

My interest is that the Church of Verona rushes out of this shameful story. Read, confirmed and signed at the date and place mentioned above.

F.D.S./F.F.