Title: Vatican trial: Ex-student says he witnessed abuse at minor seminary
VATICAN CITY — A former student at the St. Pius X Pre-Seminary in the Vatican said he witnessed “dozens” of instances of abuse at the minor seminary.Taking the stand at the Vatican City State criminal court March 26, Kamil Jarzembowski, the former student, said he saw Fr. Gabriele Martinelli, who at the time was a student at the seminary, enter the dormitory room he shared with L.G., the student Martinelli is accused of abusing.
The abuse was said to have occurred between 2007 and 2012. Although both were under the age of 18 when the abuse apparently began, the court accused the priest of continuing to abuse the younger student when Martinelli, not yet a priest, was already 20.
In a 2017 television interview, Jarzembowski was the first former student to speak publicly of abuse at the seminary.
During the trial, Jarzembowski repeated the claims he made on the television program, telling the Vatican court that Martinelli was known in the seminary as the “protégé” of Msgr. Enrico Radice, the former rector of the seminary, and used his connection to exercise power over other students.
“Even stones knew that if you went against Martinelli, you went against Radice,” Jarzembowski told the courtroom. He also claimed that after speaking about the abuse with Cardinal Angelo Comastri, former archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, he was dismissed from the minor seminary.