Luigi Ventura (born 9 December 1944) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

, ending his career as

Apostolic Nuncio to France The Apostolic Nunciature to France is an ecclesiastical office of the Catholic Church in France. It is a diplomatic post of the Holy See, whose representative is called the Apostolic Nuncio with the rank of an ambassador. History of the Nunciatu ...

from 2009 to 2019. He became a nuncio and archbishop in 1995 and served in several African countries, Chile, and Canada before being posted to Paris. Beginning in January 2019 he was under investigation by French authorities for sexual crimes. In July 2019, the Vatican lifted his diplomatic immunity to allow him to face criminal charges. He was allowed to relocate to Rome; Pope Francis accepted his resignation in December 2019. Ventura's criminal trial began in Paris on 10 November 2020 without him present, despite previous pledges that he would appear in-person. However, Ventura was also denied a motion to postpone the trial, which proceeded with many of his accusers testifying. A verdict was handed down on 16 December 2020, which resulted in Ventura receiving an eight-month suspended prison sentence which includes fines and

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

. He has agreed to not appeal his sentence.

Career

Ventura was born on 9 December 1944 in Borgosatollo, Italy. He was ordained a priest on 14 June 1969 for the Diocese of Brescia. To prepare for a diplomatic career he entered the

Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy The Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy ( la, Pontificia Ecclesiastica Academia, it, Pontificia Accademia Ecclesiastica) is one of the Roman Colleges of the Catholic Church. The academy is dedicated to training priests to serve in the diplomatic ...

in 1967. He joined the diplomatic service of the

in 1978. He earned a doctor of letters and holds a licentiate in

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is t ...

. His assignments from 1978 to 1984 were in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. He then worked in Rome with the Section for Relations with States at the Secretariat of State until 1995. On 25 March 1995,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appointed him

titular archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Equilium and apostolic nuncio to the

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana t ...

and

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesAngelo Sodano Angelo Raffaele Sodano, GCC (23 November 1927 – 27 May 2022) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and from 1991 on a cardinal. He was the Dean of the College of Cardinals from 2005 to 2019 and Cardinal Secretary of State from 1991 ...

, Secretary of State. He was made nuncio to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

on 25 March 1999. On 22 June 2001, John Paul named him apostolic nuncio to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

appointed him apostolic nuncio to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 22 September 2009, replacing Fortunato Baldelli who had been appointed as

Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary The Apostolic Penitentiary (), formerly called the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, is a dicastery of the Roman Curia and is one of the three ordinary tribunals of the Apostolic See. The Apostolic Penitentiary is chiefly a trib ...

Criminal allegations

In January 2019 the French authorities opened an investigation into Ventura after a junior official at Paris City Hall accused him of

molestation Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assau ...

. Ventura has not made comment on the allegations. On 15 February 2019, ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' reported that a young male employed by the office of the mayor of Paris had filed a complaint for

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

against Ventura and that authorities had launched a formal inquiry in January. The city employee, Mathieu de La Souchère, and two other accusers using aliases, have asked French officials to ask the Vatican to waive Ventura's

diplomatic immunity Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country.

. French European Minister

Nathalie Loiseau Nathalie Loiseau (born 1 June 1964) is a French politician, diplomat and academic administrator who has served as a Member of European Parliament since 2019. Previously she was director of the École nationale d'administration (ENA) from 2012 t ...

said she expects the Vatican to allow Ventura to be tried. On 22 February a Canadian man, Christian Vachon, charged Ventura had touched him improperly in July 2008 when he was 32. Vachon said Ventura's successor as Nuncio to Canada, Archbishop

Luigi Bonazzi Luigi Bonazzi is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who works in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He has been the apostolic nuncio to Albania since December 2020. He was the apostolic nuncio to Canada from December 2013 to December ...

, called him the day he registered his complaint to discuss it. Ventura allowed himself to be questioned by French police in April. At his own request, Ventura met with his four accusers on 22–23 May and denied their charges. The accusers' attorneys were not allowed to ask him questions. On 8 July a Vatican spokesperson said the

had informed French authorities a week earlier that it was waiving Ventura's diplomatic immunity. He called it "an extraordinary gesture". ''Le Monde'' reported it was the first withdrawal of diplomatic immunity on the part of the Vatican in modern history. As of 30 September 2019, Ventura was living at a residence for retired priests in Rome, still subject to French investigators and prosecution. At the time his France trial was announced in July 2020, Ventura was still under investigation for the alleged 2008 incident in Ottawa, Canada as well. Pablo Larrain's film ''

El Club ''The Club'' ( es, El Club) is a 2015 Chilean drama film directed, co-produced and co-written by Pablo Larraín. It was screened in the main competition of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Jury Grand Prix. It was selec ...

'' also accused Ventura of covering up sexual violence in Chile when he served as apostolic nuncio to the country.

Resignation

Pope Francis accepted his resignation on 17 December 2019, which Ventura had submitted as required on his 75th birthday. Such resignations are either accepted by Pope Francis quickly, as in Ventura's case, or sometimes he kept bishops in their jobs longer. The fact that Ventura resignation was announced on the same day as Francis' abuse reforms does not seem to be a coincidence. The resignation and its acceptance had been anticipated since Ventura had been relieved of his responsibilities and moved to Rome in September. ''Libération'', which published some of the earliest complaints against Ventura, called the idea of retiring without referencing the criminal charges against Ventura "a beautiful example of Jesuitry".

Criminal charges and trial

On 23 July 2020, the Paris Prosecutor's Office announced that Ventura had been criminally charged with sexually assaulting four men in 2018 and 2019 and will stand trial in Paris starting 10 November 2020. Ventura's lawyer stated that the former nuncio agreed to return to Paris and make in-person court appearances during his trial. Despite this pledge, Ventura did not appear in-person when his trial began in Paris on the scheduled date.https://www.newmilfordspectrum.com/news/article/Ex-Vatican-envoy-faces-sexual-abuse-charge-in-15714916.php Despite Ventura's absence, which was justified by a doctor's note pointing out the dangers of traveling to France due to the country's surging number of COVID-19 cases, a motion filed by Ventura's lawyers to postpone the trial was denied and several men accusing Ventura of groping them, including a Catholic seminarian, were able to testify in court as the trial progressed. Ventura's verdict was scheduled to be delivered on 16 December 2020, with prosecution seeking only a 10-month suspended prison sentence. His Paris trial concluded by 15 November. On the scheduled date of 16 December 2020, a Paris court convicted Ventura and handed an eight-month suspended prison sentence.https://www.wral.com/paris-court-convicts-former-vatican-envoy-of-sexual-assault/19432368/ The suspended sentence includes eight months probation and a payment €13,000 to the victims, as well as €9,000 in legal fees. On 18 January 2021, Ventura's lawyer said he would not appeal his conviction.

References

External links