Vatican court overturns priest’s acquittal in landmark seminary sexual abuse case

ROME – A Vatican court has overturned the acquittal of a priest accused of sexually abusing a fellow student at the Vatican’s St. Pius X Pre-Seminary, delivering a guilty verdict in a landmark case that marked the first time a case for alleged sexual abuse went to trial within Vatican walls.

Upon appeal from the prosecution, the October 2021 acquittal of Father Gabriele Martinelli, who was accused of abusing another student from 2007 to 2012 when he studied at the St. Pius X Pre-Seminary, was overturned by the Vatican’s appeals court.