The Catholic Church in Rome admitted recently that it is aware
priests from at least 23 countries have been raping nuns. The
countries included India, Ireland, Italy, Philippines and United
States.
### Some rape cases took place within the Vatican with
unscrupulous clerics taking advantage of young nuns having trouble
finding accommodation, writing their essays and funding their
theological studies.
The priests, who previously sought out prostitutes, preyed on nuns
to avoid contracting Aids.
Confidential Vatican reports obtained by National Catholic
Reporter, revealed that Catholic priests exploited their
financial and spiritual authority to prey on nuns.
The reports, some of which have been in circulation for 7 years,
said the priests also demanded sex in exchange for favours, such as
certification to work in a given diocese.
### Nuns, along with ((teenage girls)), are perceived
as safe sexual targets. The reports said that the church
authorities had done little to tackle the problem.
### The Vatican cited countless cases of nuns forced
into sex with priests. Some took birth-control pills, others became
pregnant and had abortions. In one case, a nun died after a forced
abortion and her rapist led the funeral mass. Another 29 nuns from
the same church also became pregnant.
### Catholic hospitals and medical staff reported
pressure from priests to carry out abortions for nuns and ((other
young women)).
### Sister Maura O'Donohue of Catholic Fund for
Overseas Development noted that nuns were identified as "safe"
targets with priests requesting that nuns be made available to them
for sexual favours.
### While bishops are aware of this, they
felt it was disloyal of the sisters to report the rapes.
### The nuns claim they were not well
received and even blamed for the rapes. While offending priests are
moved or sent away for studies, the nuns are chased out of their
religious orders.