AUSTRIA: VATICAN INVESTIGATOR BISHOP KLAUS KUENG ARRIVES IN ST. POELTEN TO BEGIN PROBE INTO A ROMAN CATHOLIC SEMINARY AT CENTRE OF A SEX AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY SCANDAL

Record ID: 647458

  • Title: AUSTRIA: VATICAN INVESTIGATOR BISHOP KLAUS KUENG ARRIVES IN ST. POELTEN TO BEGIN PROBE INTO A ROMAN CATHOLIC SEMINARY AT CENTRE OF A SEX AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY SCANDAL
  • Date: 20th July 2004
  • Summary: (EU) ST. POELTEN, AUSTRIA (JULY 20, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. EXTERIOR OF ROMAN CATHOLIC SEMINARY AT THE CENTRE OF THE SEX AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY SCANDAL 0.06 2. SCU: PAINTING ABOVE ENTRANCE TO SEMINARY 0.12 3. POSTER INSIDE GLASS CABINET READING "TRUST IN GOD" 0.18 4. CLOSE-UP OF SIGN READING "SEMINARY" 0.25 5. PAN FROM CHURCH TOWER TO BACK OF SEMINARY 0.37 6. SHOES ON WINDOWSILL OF SEMINARY 0.44 7. PHOTOGRAPHS IN AUSTRIAN NEWS MAGAZINE "PROFIL" OF PRIESTS KISSING AND GROPING STUDENTS STUDYING FOR THE PRIESTHOOD (2 SHOTS) 0.57 8. PAN DOWN: EXTERIOR OF ST. POELTEN DIOCESE 1.05 9. SCU: CROSS WITH CHRIST ON SIDE OF BUILDING 1.10 (EU) ST. POELTEN, AUSTRIA (JULY 21, 2004) (REUTERS) 10. BISHOP KLAUS KUENG, INVESTIGATOR APPOINTED BY POPE JOHN PAUL, SITTING DOWN FOR NEWS CONFERENCE 1.17 11. CAMERA OPERATOR FILMING 1.21 12. (SOUNDBITE) (German) BISHOP KLAUS KUENG, INVESTIGATOR APPOINTED BY POPE JOHN PAUL, SAYING: "The way I see my work is to find the truth, combined with the wish and the aim to create new trust, especially in regard to the seminary. That is very important to me." 1.45 13. CU: PAINTING OF BISHOP KRENN ON WALL 1.52 (EU) ST. POELTEN, AUSTRIA (JULY 20, 2004) (REUTERS) 14. EXTERIOR OF PROSECUTING ATTORNEY'S OFFICE 1.59 15. CU: SIGN READING "PROSECUTORS OFFICE ST. POELTEN" 2.06 16. PROSECUTING ATTORNEY WALTER NEMEC SITTING DOWN AT DESK 2.15 17. SCU: LAW BOOK ON TABLE 2.20 18. (SOUNDBITE) (German) WALTER NEMEC, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, SAYING: "The investigation of the data seized -- discs, CD Roms, DVDs and other data -- has been carried out and was completed by the police last Friday. This investigation found that one computer belonging to the Pole contained child pornography pictures." 2.49 19. WIDE OF PEOPLE WALKING IN STREETS OF ST. POELTEN 2.54 20. PEOPLE SITTING IN OUTDOOR CAFE 3.00 21. ENTRANCE TO NEARBY SEMINARY 3.05 22. (SOUNDBITE) (German) SILVANA NEUHAUSER, ST. POELTEN RESIDENT, SAYING: "I come from a church background. I used to be a religion teacher and I gave up my profession, exactly because of these reasons. The situation in the church is catastrophic." 3.19 23. MAN SITTING IN OUTDOOR CAFE, PEOPLE WALKING PAST 3.23 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ST. POELTEN, AUSTRIA
  • Country: Austria
  • Reuters ID: LVA3CIHFSG40NH35BF5A3NHC7BQ6
  • Story Text: An investigator appointed by Pope John Paul has
    launched a probe of a Roman Catholic seminary at the centre
    of a sex and child pornography scandal that has rocked
    Austria.


    The Vatican has appointed Bishop Klaus Kueng as an
    investigator to a Roman Catholic seminary in Austria at the
    centre of a sex and child pornography scandal.

    "The way I see my work is to find the truth, combined
    with the wish and the aim to create new trust, especially
    in regard to the seminary", Bishop Klaus Kueng told a news
    conference in St. Poelten on Wednesday (July 21).

    "That is very important to me", Kueng, bishop of the
    western Austrian town of Feldkirch, said.

    Kueng, whose official title is "apostolic visitor", is
    uncommon and the Vatican has responded to the growing
    scandal with unusual speed compared to the sexual abuse
    scandal that hit the United States in 2002.

    Austrian prosecutors charged a seminarian on Monday
    (July 20) with downloading child pornography from the
    Internet and said he was not the only person at the
    seminary to have done so.

    Prosecutors in St Poelten, west of Vienna, said they
    found child pornography on the seminaries main computer and
    on one owned by a 27-year-old seminarian from Poland, who
    could be jailed for up to two years if convicted.

    "The investigation of the data seized -- discs, CD
    Roms, DVDs and other data -- has been carried out and was
    completed by the police last Friday. This investigation
    found that one computer belonging to the Pole contained
    child pornography pictures", prosecuting attorney Walter
    Nemec said.

    News that police had seized seminary computers to check
    for child pornography came out in May but the scandal
    erupted last week when news magazine Profil ran pictures of
    priests kissing and groping seminarians studying for the
    priesthood.

    St. Poeltens controversial Bishop Kurt Krenn, who is
    responsible for the seminary, has been facing increasing
    calls to resign since the publication of the photos in
    Profil.

    He dismissed the photos as "youthful pranks".

    The fresh scandal in predominantly Catholic Austria is
    another blow for the Roman Catholic Church after a series
    of shocking sexual abuse cases involving clergy across the
    world.


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