Pope names Bishop to investigate Austrian sex abuse cases
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/20/in...0CND-AUST.html

BERLIN, July 20 — Pope John Paul II announced today that he would appoint a special investigator to look into allegations involving homosexual behavior and child pornography at a Roman Catholic seminary in Austria.

Several months ago, the police took away computers and hard drives in an attempt to identify the person or persons who downloaded the material, which is illegal in most countries, including Austria.

Prosecutors said today that they had found "pornographic representations of minors as well as so-called violent pornography" on the seminary's main computer, as well as on one assigned to a 27-year-old seminarian, the person charged in the case.

The reports about St. Pölten have rocked the Austrian Catholic church, still recovering from a scandal several years ago involving allegations that the cardinal of Austria, Hans Hermann Gröer, had abused boys decades earlier. Cardinal Gröer, who stepped down in 1998, died last year.

Many Catholics have demanded that the bishop of St. Pölten, Kurt Krenn, who is ultimately responsible for the seminary, step down because of the allegations of sexual misconduct. Bishop Krenn, an outspoken conservative intensely disliked by many reformist Catholics in Austria, has refused to resign, but his ability to hold on to his office will no doubt depend a great deal on the results of the papal investigation.

-Rudey