Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Alassio, Savona, Liguria, Italy · 2009

Italy: Albenga-Imperia diocese priest's conviction for abusing an altar server stands, though the church later cleared him

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

Catholic parish priest of San Vincenzo e San Giovanni, Alassio

Organization

Diocese of Albenga-Imperia

Spiritual nexus

The victim was an altar server of the priest's own parish, whose access to and unchallengeable authority over the child arose directly from his priestly office.

Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2009-01-01 · conviction, final

Italian criminal courts through the Corte di Cassazione, Italy. Don Luciano Massaferro, parish priest of San Vincenzo e San Giovanni in Alassio, was convicted of sexually abusing a young altar server of his parish and sentenced to seven years and eight months' imprisonment, arrested on 29 December 2009. The Court of Cassation confirmed the sentence definitively in 2013, and he was released in early 2016 on good-conduct credit.

Appellate history

2013

Court of Cassation confirmed the sentence definitively.

Documented coercion mechanisms

parish priest's office and access to a child serving as altar server in his own parish

Primary record

Sources

specialist advocacy press survey report Rete L'Abuso: Abusi sessuali del clero, in Liguria 69 casi in 25 anni: in 5 condannati in via definitiva.: Regional survey listing Massaferro among five definitively-convicted Liguria clergy, with sentence and timeline.
national newspaper contrast disposition report Il Fatto Quotidiano: Alassio, prete condannato per pedofilia in via definitiva. Ma tribunale ecclesiastico lo assolve: "Innocente, celebri messa".: Reports the 2018 ecclesiastical tribunal's acquittal and reinstatement to public ministry, contrasted explicitly with the standing definitive criminal conviction.

Related record

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