Vatican envoy to France under investigation for sexual assault

Paris, Feb 15 (IANS) The Pope's envoy to France is being investigated for allegedly committing sexual assault against a Paris city hall worker, officials said on Friday.

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, who was appointed by the former Pontiff Benedict XVI in 2009 to represent the Vatican's interests in France, has been accused of inappropriately touching a young man who welcomed him during an official ceremony at the capital's city council.

The ecclesiastical diplomat, aged 74, allegedly let his hand wander on the local government employee during the annual New Year's reception held on January 17 at the H?tel de Ville building's arcade hall, Efe news reported.

Officials said that the investigation was launched on January 24, when the case was referred by city authorities to the office of Paris prosecutor R?my Heitz.

The story was first reported by French daily Le Monde.

Ventura, who was born in the northern Italian province of Lombardy, was ordained a priest in 1969 before joining the Vatican's diplomatic service in 1978.

A doctor of letters licensed in canon law, he served in the Church's legations to Brazil, Bolivia and the UK.

His first assignment holding the position of apostolic nuncio - as the papal envoys are officially known - was at the shared legation to three French-speaking West African countries: the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Niger.

In 1999, he was moved to Chile for two years before Pope John Paul II appointed him nuncio to Canada, where he served for eight years until his move to Paris.

This latest sexually-tinged scandal comes amid an avalanche of thousands of abuse allegations against Catholic priests that emerged in recent years, many of them involving underage victims.

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