Croatia Catholic Church convicts priest of child abuse

The Croatian Catholic Church has found a priest guilty of sexually abusing minors.

Archbishop Zelimir Puljic, head of Croatia’s Bishops Conference, told Croatian state TV on Friday that Reverend Nedeljko Ivanov has been found guilty of sexually abusing children.

Puljic also stated that Ivanov has been ordered to apologize to the victims of abuse.

Ivanov must also donate part of his pension to charity, the Croatian archbishop added.

The guilty priest has been banned from performing formal religious duties and he is only allowed to celebrate Mass inside his elderly home.

The first case against the Catholic priest emerged two years ago when he was accused by people, who as children had been in his congregation in Bibinje, near Croatia’s coast in the 1980s and 1990s.

Ivanov has made no comments on the Catholic Church ruling.

An analysis of Vatican statistics revealed in January that former Pope Benedict XVI defrocked nearly 400 priests from their clerical state in just two years for raping and molesting children.

According to the document obtained by the Associated Press, 260 priests were defrocked in 2011 and 124 in 2012, a total of 384, showing a dramatic increase compared to the 171 priests removed in 2008 and 2009.

Vatican spokesperson, Federico Lombardi, confirmed the accuracy of the figures while a canon lawyer said the real figures might be far higher as they do not include sentences meted out by diocesan courts.