Former Vatican Ambassador to France sentenced to prison after convicted of sexual assault

Paris: On Wednesday, a Paris court sentenced the former Vatican ambassador to France to eight months in prison after he was convicted of sexual assault on five men.

The court found that Italian-born bishop Luigi Ventura attempted to touch the men during meetings between 2018 and 2019, and the case came to light in early 2019 with the Catholic Church facing several similar cases.

The Vatican agreed to lift Ventura’s diplomatic immunity, the first time the Holy See had taken such a step.

Ventura was absent from the verdict and other court sessions that began on November 10, and the French court also fined him 13,000 euros in damages, in addition to his name being included in the list of sex offenders in France.

Police were first notified of the case after a high-ranking Paris municipal employee filed a complaint about being groped during a public event.

Four other men made similar accusations on other occasions, including a twenty-year-old trained priest who said the papal ambassador touched him multiple times during and after Mass.

Ventura, who was appointed to Paris since 2009 in late December, resigned after the age of 75, the retirement age for the position he held.

The Catholic Church has witnessed the disclosure of decades of cases of sexual abuse by clergymen around the world, especially minors.

Pope Francis declared a zero tolerance policy towards sexual offenders.