The Hindu : International : A scandal in Austria

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Wednesday, Jul 14, 2004

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International

A scandal in Austria

VIENNA, JULY 13. The Austrian Catholic Church was plunged into its second big sex scandal in a decade on Monday when a seminary run by arch-conservatives was alleged to be the site of orgies among young priests and their teachers. The seminary comes under the authority of Bishop Kurt Krenn.

The Vienna news magazine Profil published pictures of sexual acts, prompting emergency meetings of the Church leadership, and calls for Bishop Krenn's resignation.

The pictures were said to be part of a cache of some 40,000 photos and child pornography videos found by Church officials on computers at the seminary a year ago. While the Austrian Bishops' Conference issued a statement declaring that ``homosexuality and pornography'' could have no place at a seminary, Bishop Krenn refused to resign and appeared to compound the crisis by saying: ``This has got nothing to do with homosexuality. It's just boys' pranks.'' The Church saw a crisis in 1995 when its then head, Cardinal Hans-Hermann Groer, was found to have been molesting boys. He was forced to retire, and died last year. In a country that is 90 per cent Catholic, that scandal saw thousands leaving the Church.

Bishop Krenn became the principal target of the campaign. But he is believed to have powerful allies in the Vatican and the Pope demonstrated his support by visiting the diocese in 1998.Cardinal Groer was deeply conservative and loudly supported by Bishop Krenn who has been engaged in a battle for years with the more liberal Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, the current head of the Church in Austria. —

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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