Priest raped us in an orgy, says nun

[emad]

By Richard Owen

A PRIEST whose devotion to saving the souls of prostitutes and porn stars has earned him celebrity status in Italy has been arrested on charges of sexual violence and group rape.

Father Fedele Bisceglia, 69, was arrested after a nun alleged that she and other women had been raped at their Franciscan hostel at Cosenza in Calabria, southern Italy. Antonio Gaudio, 39, Father Bisceglia’s assistant, has also been charged with sexual harassment. Both men deny the charges.

Father Bisceglia, a striking, white-bearded figure with piercing blue eyes, is a national figure in Italy because of his missionary work for the poor as well as his colourful, extrovert television appearances.

He is probably best known for having converted Luana Borgia, a porn actress, to Christianity ten years ago, persuading her to enter a convent on a retreat to reflect on her life and “purify herself spiritually”. Father Bisceglia even accompanied Ms Borgia to the Bologna “Erotic Fair”, where she announced her conversion and set up a stall collecting money for an ambulance for one of his missions in Africa.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,171-2006356,00.html

[Zodiak]

1. This reminds me of the Queensryche Album "Operation Mindcrime"

This guy is Father William......and apparently he has a lot of Sister Mary's.

I apologize to anyone who does not recognize the reference.

[orion9941]

5. I remember the reference...

...and wow did it make me feel old! lol

[lectrobyte]

14. I used to trust the media to tell me the truth

Very timely album reference.

[orwell]

2. Hey...

...send him over here. He can run for Congress or get his own cable news show.

We just luuuuuuv telegenic religious fanatic porno priests.

[hlthe2b]

3. Ahh, yes...

yet another impetus for the Pope's recent admonishment of journalists....:mad:

[Cleita]

4. So how long will it take for the nuns to be accused of

diabolic possession?

[emad]

6. "I feel persecuted like Jesus, /all evidence fabricated against me"

I feel persecuted like Jesus," the priest, known in Italy as Fr Fidele, said on his arrest. "It is all evidence fabricated against me. She is mad."

The nun, who the Italian newspaper La Repubblica said had passed psychiatric tests, also claimed that she was filmed being raped by several men although detectives have not so far uncovered any evidence to back up her allegations.

Fr Fidele shot to fame in Italy because of his relationship with a pornographic film star, Luana Borgia, alias the Duchess of Hard.

Following her "salvation" Borgia did not, however, take her vows but instead persuaded Fr Fidele to go with her to a sex industry fair in Bologna where he raised funds for orphanages in Africa. "Her conversion was one of the most beautiful conquests of my priesthood. She is a very good and sweet girl," he said at the time.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/24/wfidele24.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/24/ixnewstop.html

[sui generis]

7. 69??? I wouldn't call that rape

I'd call it assault with a dead weapon.

ba dum tish.

[CatWoman]

20. *snarf*

I was thinking along those same lines :rofl:

[Yavin4]

8. I Wonder How The Pope Will Blame the Gays for This One

He's got to get creative here.

[MADem]

11. Italy has a funny attitude about HETERO priests

It's as though they wear their celibacy rather lightly. In a town I once lived in, the local priest had a housekeeper who had a son who looked exactly like the priest. The kid (well, he was a young adult at the time I knew him) knew damn well who his daddy was. Everyone called him the priest's son...no one seemed irritated by it, it was "normale..."

However, rape is another story altogether, and is not so easily forgiveable. Aside from being an act of despicable depravity and violence, there's a sense that it is also the act of a complete and total loser who has no talent in the realm of charm or seduction. And without those talents, you are a schmuck, in many quarters.

[emad]

9. "Have courage to tell the truth Pope tells the media"??????

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/1/24/wo...

[Bridget Burke]

15. Dead link.

What a surprise!

[kay1864]

17. No, just a bad link in that post

Here's the link:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/1/24/worldupdates/2006-01-24t192149z_01_nootr_rtrjonc_0_india-233518-1&sec=worldupdates

[Poll_Blind]

10. Pic of the Obi-Wan/Santa Claus cross...

FWIW...

PB

[Peace Patriot]

12. This story smells. I would be wary of it. It very much serves the

rightwing agenda of the Times, and the agendas of rightwing elements in the Church and in Italy (that anyone who bothers about the poor--or about socially anathematized groups like prostitutes--must be corrupt). How could nuns be victims of "group rape"? They were together in a Franciscan hostel, according to the tale. Police should take any such charge seriously, of course. Rape victims have been ignored and victimized for too long (millenia!). Still, this one doesn't sound right--and it is ONLY a charge, not a conviction. I'd want to know a lot more before I could believe that a group of nuns could be "group raped" in this day and age, without the use of weapons. And it's so out of character for the man the article described--an advocate of the poor--it sounds just like the sort of nonsense our U.S. rightwing "think tanks" produce (for other purposes), a trumped up story that confirms rightwing bigotry about some chosen scapegoat or event. This is not to say there aren't charletans running around as priests. There are. (And I am ALWAYS suspicious of anyone who has "missions in Africa" or any other exploited region.) I would just say, be careful about snap judgments, and consider sources.

--------------

I read the whole article. Some details are suggestive of a frameup. The police tapped his phone, and "alleged that telephone taps appeared to confirm the nun’s story." And, "Pornographic videos had been found at the priest’s home, police said."

Here's a fuller description of his work: "The priest, who is also a qualified doctor, is the founder of the Franciscan Oasis, a hostel and social centre at Cosenza providing food and shelter for the poor, detainees on day release, former prostitutes, young single mothers and illegal immigrants. He also set up a 'Franciscan disco' in the town, offering 'soft drinks and the Gospel instead of alcohol and drugs.'"

His work in Africa included setting up hospitals and elminating leprosy.

Police establishments have become dependent on the drug trade and prositution for self-justification and big budgets. Perhaps he was making too much headway against these things. And anyone who actually addresses the real needs of the poor, and identifies with the poor, can easily be tagged as a leftist subversive.

The more I read about this, the more wary I am of the allegations. There are just too many reasons why rightwing elements would want to sully him.

[Bridget Burke]

16. The Times--Right Wing? Can this be?

Oh, you mean the paper that printed an article about how the American Heartland was offended by the Golden Globe Awards? Brokeback Mountain, plus evil political types like George Clooney are apparently reviled from sea to shining sea, by all the Good Folk in Middle America.

www.entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14931-1990992,00.html

Of course, the writer's ONLY sources were (1) Concerned Women For American, the Religious Right's favorite propaganda mill & (2) Straight Talk Radio. Since I'm tired of giving the CFAW harpies hits, check out #2:

www.straighttalkradio.org/

How odd that the current story--so juicy--has failed to hit the news anywhere else.

As a woman, I take rape charges seriously. But I wonder how the old guy could handle a group.

[kay1864]

18. Actually, there are a couple of other news agencies picking it up....

BBC News, UPI, and the Daily Telegraph.

[Bridget Burke]

19. I see that he & his associate were arrested for Sexual Harrassment

Not quite the same as orgiastic nun-rape.

www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200601231210-1060-RT1-CRO-0-NF11&page=0&id=agionline-eng.oggitalia

The story also mentions he works with "illegal immigrants." Is that as much of a crime in Italy as some regard it here?

[RememberWellstone]

13. Guess he could'nt find boy scout troop?

sickening to see the corruption of the religions.