UNDER PUBLIC FIRE Pope Benedict XVI has these past days been the target of growing press criticism over a number of newly-discovered cases in which the Church protected rapists and child abusers under cassocks, and even helped them get transfers to new posts at which they were once again in contact with children"At the age of 14, I arrived at the boy's seminary. It is a world in which there are only men, from instructors and teachers to us pupils, the nuns only cooked and kept house. We kids quickly grasped that there was something not altogether alright with one of the biology teachers. It was noticeable through some gestures, his voice, you see it when he offers his hand, he holds on to your hand, pets you, or leans over you often, and sits next to you so that his body touches yours. When I was hurt once at physical education class, this teacher visited me in my room, petting me, looking out for me, massaging me... But he did not do so the way physiotherapists do. Luckily, in my case he stuck only to massaging, but he massaged the genitalia of some of my colleagues, took their pants off...But since we were, after all, a small, closed community, it quickly got around the seminary. The teacher was sent to Germany to continue his postgraduate education," a priest, who for understandable reasons asked that his identity not be revealed, nor that of the priest he was speaking of, told Nacional.

He personally, during his preparations for the priesthood, and later, when he became a young priest, in several cases became convinced that the ranks of the Church were full of, to put it lightly, people of dubious orientation and morality. But what shocked him most as a young novice to the priesthood and later as a priest, was the blind eye turned by Church authorities to such cases, and the fact that they were hushed up.

"This biology teacher, instead of being punished, expelled from the service, was in effect rewarded. It turns out that his superiors knew of his orientation and instead of punishing him, they rewarded him by sending him to postgraduate studies. I know of a number of other cases in which problematic priests were sent to Germany. Germany was a Mecca for priests that had violated the celibacy, that is where many individuals for whom it was discovered that they had a wife and children wound up. And even though it was an attempt to separate them from their wife and children, there was even a tolerance of their taking their wife and child with them as, ostensibly, household help. They were even allotted wealthy parishes were they had an abundance of material goods," says Nacional's source.

He says that the problem is in the fact that Church leaders do not have the will to nip the problem in the bud. "Among us boys it was clear from the very start who had these tendencies. We were lodged by two's and three's in rooms with a washbasin, while the toilets and showers were communal. When we showered, there were some who liked looking at other boys, they would climb up to the window between cabins and peek. And while they were always caught, nothing happened to them, and this was in fact the start of the awakening of their sexual drives. I know of two from my group, one is a diocesan parish priest, while the other was sent to Austria. The instructors knew of their affinities - just as it was known of the teachers, it was known of the boys, but there was no reaction. Instead of telling these boys that they were not for the service, to try and direct them to some other calling, they were allowed to pass the entire preparation period and in the end they were ordained to the priesthood, even though their affinities were known of."

The canon priest Vladimir Zagorac was among the first to speak openly about the homosexual circles in the Church. His memoirs saw a small print run and were quickly sold out. But a Nacional reporter spoke with him last year at his flat in the Kaptol cathedral precinct a few days before he wound up in hospital and, unfortunately, passed away. During the conversation he said that he was preparing a new, expanded, edition of his memoirs for publication and gave us one copy on CD. In these memoirs he tells of his life and dedication to the service of God, wherein he very openly criticised some high-ranking priests, and also mentioned homosexual circles within the Church.

"The community of priests has become a 'male company' and is thereby in danger of being desirable to perverse types of homosexual orientation. Just like other such communities - the military, men's prisons, seminaries, monasteries and so forth. Especially if the superiors do not have an eye for recognising these 'candidates' and rejecting them. But yet another danger in church life needs to be pointed out. And that is, namely, that every demonstrated inclination to women is counted as a shortcoming in priests and keeps them back from advancement in the service. And this does not have to be some sort of irregular liaison, but rather most commonly only in polite behaviour by the norms of etiquette. On the other hand, the opposite orientation is lauded because of the lack of interest in women's company, not taking into consideration the eventual unnatural sexual phenomenon, and these individuals climb high in the Church hierarchy, where they have the ability to promote others like themselves."

And while canon Vladimir Zagorac distanced himself from the sensationalist media writing that following in the wake of the first edition of his memoirs, he also did not agree with some from the ranks of the Church who reacted harshly, objecting to his bring out the 'dirty laundry' and of giving the enemies of the Church an opportunity to mock it. In the foreword to the new, unpublished edition his message to them was that he did not consider the journalists or editors of daily newspapers to be the enemies of the Church as they too were in a way the members of the Church. In the book he tells how some priests whom the other priests suspected of homosexuality, opposed his appointment to serve as a full time professor of the Faculty of Theology, and went so far with it that they even sent a letter to Rome with false accusations against him that he had a lover, a cottage and a yacht.

"With my appointment to the post of canon, for which Bishop Koksa is much deserving, the differences between myself and Cardinal Kuharic were finally laid to rest, although he never particularly liked me. When I asked him once in confidence why he had always persecuted me, his answer was, 'Because they always denounced you.' And so the 'faggot group' at Kaptol as we referred to them, was never at rest. At one meeting of us canons with Cardinal Kuharic he complained the he was constantly receiving anonymous letters in which some individuals were harshly criticised. We advised him not to read such letters, because a person who sent an unsigned letter does not deserve to be believed. But Cardinal Kuharic suffered from this his entire life and these letters had influenced him."

That there is in fact a "faggot group" at Kaptol has been confirmed by the priest with whom we spoke. He cited the full names and surnames of the priests in very high posts within the Church hierarchy that he claimed had openly shown their homosexual affinities. "One of these was the secretary to the late Cardinal Kuharic, one was the chief manciple for the diocese, and one the head of the college of prebendaries. Along with them there was one priest whose classes I went to while studying at Kaptol. He was very given to hugging us young boys - "Dear boys, come on, how can I help you..." You would have to be nuts not to get what it was about. And then he takes my hand and walks with me. You find yourself in a very embarrassing situation because you are afraid that you will be discharged if you say anything. People were afraid because they were looking out for their basic needs. One of the people from these circles invited me to his place, saying that he would help me get ahead in the ranks of the Church. He was on good terms with a bishop, one of the serious candidates of which it was said that he would succeed the late Kuharic, and then something changed overnight and they pulled Bozanic out of the hat." During his studies the priest with whom we spoke also had an opportunity to visit Rome. He said he was shocked when he saw that the situation there, when it comes to the sexual orientations of priests, was no better. The fact that Cardinal Bozanic has called on the faithful to report every case of paedophilia or other criminal activity among priests to the civilian authorities will have little effect if the Church does not first clean up its own ranks.

THE CHURCH HAS NOT RENOUNCED HIM Sestine parish priest Ivan Cucek was allowed to serve mass, and to officiate at funerals and marriages during the probation period he was sentenced to along with a suspended prison sentence, for indecent acts on ten-year-old girls, where he put his hand under their shirts, groping them and asking that they sit on his lap in a inappropriate fashionBecause while they preach one thing from the altar, and in their own ranks protect paedophiles, womanizers and homosexuals, the credibility of the Church can only fall further in the eyes of believers. The paedophile scandals have shook the Catholic Church as a whole, and however much it tries to hush the matter up, the Catholic Church in Croatia is no exception. When Pope Benedict sharply criticises paedophilia in the ranks of the Church in his Easter sermon, the direct cause of which is the paedophile scandal in Ireland, it will be a clear signal to all that these kinds of things are no longer to be tolerated. But the Croatian church has not only up to now not been willing to clearly distance itself from paedophile priests, but it actually allowed a priest convicted of indecent acts on girls to serve mass - and to do so during his probation period. At issue is former Sestina parish priest Ivan Cucek, who was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to a year and a half in probationary detention with a three year probation period for sixteen counts of indecent acts on ten-year-old girls, where he put his hand under their shirts, groping them and asking that they sit on His lap in an inappropriate fashion. The first instance verdict from 2001 saw Cucek sentenced by Zagreb Municipal Court to three years in prison, and while the parents testified in court along with the teachers and the principal from the school at which Cucek taught catechism, his attorneys objected, saying that the verdict was passed based on the testimony of subjective parents, while the children, as the key witnesses, were not even heard. Cucek himself claimed that someone was out to frame him. His punishment was subsequently reduced and modified to a probationary sentence.

But in February 2008, he showed up at the altar of St Mary's Church on Zagreb's Kaptol precinct and served holy mass. It was revealed then that he had spent the whole time assisting parish priest Josip Vnucec in carrying out his duties as a priest, including the preparation of elementary school children for the sacrament of confirmation and confession. As was revealed in February of 2008 by the Jutarnji List daily, Ivan Cucek was a welcome guest at the parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Tuhelj, which was confirmed at the time by the spokeswoman of Zagreb Archbishop Cardinal Josip Bozanic, Matilda Kolic Stanic, who pointed out that these were not regular duties and assignments Ivan Cucek was carrying out, but rather extraordinary ones. A convicted paedophile, then, had the permission of the top person in the Church hierarchy in Croatia, Josip Bozanic, to serve mass. The faithful in Tuhelj told Jutarnji List at the time that Cucek came to bless their homes, that he served mass from time to time, officiated at funerals, even at marriages, and while he did not teach catechism, he did prepare young people for confirmation. Formally, Ivan Cucek was registered at the Sveti Josip home for old and infirm priests, but he evidently spent more time assisting in parishes at Dolac and in Tuhelj. There is also a line of thought according to which the Church protected Ivan Cucek because he had been the scapegoat, while some other priests had gotten away unpunished.

Many of his former parishioners were shocked by the verdict because he had been much loved in Sestine. Nacional also spoke with a girl Cucek had taught catechism when she was younger and she said that she personally could never had imagined that he might be inclined to paedophilia. Rather, she noted, all of the older women parishioners were infatuated with him. Ivan Cucek, who is about 75 years of age, now lives at the priest's old age home on Kaptol, and while he did take our call, he did not want to discuss his case or tell his side of the story. He would say only that, "I am bearing my burden and do not wish to discuss it."

It was not long after the Cucek case, in 2007, that then 63-year-old priest Drago Ljubicic from Banjole on the island of Rab also wound up in court. This is the first priest in Croatia that has wound up in prison for sexual abuse of children. He is currently serving his sentence in Lepoglava prison. He was sentenced to three years in prison by the Juvenile Court at Rijeka Municipal Court for indecent acts on five boys between the ages of 10 and 12. For the protection of the privacy of the juvenile plaintiffs and to prevent unwanted publicity that could be detrimental to their further development, the public was excluded from the trial. We received information from Rijeka Municipal Court that in this concrete case it was about identical actions in relation to several underage plaintiffs, which consisted of the fact that, in carrying our his religious activity, and using the authority and respect he held in a small community, the offender committed a gross abuse of his role as a priest and religious instructor, and did so by actions that offended the modesty and morality of the boys in question, impinging on their sexual integrity.

"He also, coming into contact with the children in the role of priest and religious instructor, built a relations of trust, which he also grossly abused," reads the statement from Rijeka Municipal Court. A few years ago the media also reported on the information that the parish priest at the Church of the Assumption of Mary in Tribunj, Drazen Bagic, had been transferred to one of the islands by an urgent decision of the Bishop of Sibenik when locals learned that for a full five years he had sat ten-year-old girls in his lap, fondled their genitalia and kissed them on the neck. The Church succeeded in hushing up the entire matter and criminal charges were never brought against Drazen Bagic. When priests commit sexual assault on juveniles their calling in no way mitigates their fault, far from it, it is in fact an aggravating circumstance that these are people who should be a pillar of morality in society and who in the dirtiest possible way abuse the trust children have in them. It is the trust of children, and their gullibility, that most paedophiles play on. Danko Salopek and Renato Grguric of the juvenile delinquency and crime against youth and the family section of the criminal police department point out that paedophiles are often people close to the child's family, i.e. that of the victim, that they come to their home often, and that parents gain so much trust in them that they sometimes leave their children alone with them.

"Every offender simply leaves themselves enough time for the child, and often their parents, to gain trust in them. And when in the end there is a sexual abuse of the child, the child can only offer passive resistance or freezes up in shock and fear and does nothing, so that often no force is required for the offender to commit the crime. We have had cases in Sisak and Zagreb where the offenders were respected members of society, one a professor and one a well-situated gentleman, whose victims were boys from orphanages. Since these children lack love and affection, they are impressed by someone who takes them out for ice cream or cakes, and when they begin to trust that person, they are invited to their homes," says Renato Grguric. Since children in many situation, either from fear or shame, or because they have in some way been coerced, are afraid of confiding in their parents, the police are hard put to it to catch paedophiles. Renato Grguric pointed out that, as a result, they do not act only on the basis of formal charges, but react rather to every possible suspicion or rumour. "If someone were to write some information on a piece of napkin and send it to us, we are obliged to react. We do not require a formal report because we know that people find it hard to report these things, so that we applaud what Mr Bozanic has said, whereby he is in fact encouraging citizens or anyone from the ranks of the Church to report crime likes these," says Renato Grguric.

In their procedure, for the police there is no difference between a priest and any other member of society, and just like they can knock on the door of any other citizen, they have the authority, if required, to visit a priest's home if there is a justified reason to do so. Danko Salopek pointed out that, unfortunately, most cases of paedophilia are never discovered, and that information on these cases usually comes indirectly. That is why he calls on children to not be afraid to tell their parents or teachers if they find themselves in that kind of situation.

POLICE INSPECTORS Danko Salopek and Renato Grguric from the crime police department say that children are afraid of reporting paedophiles and that most paedophiles are never discovered"Children can always come themselves to the police or can send a mail message at policija@mup.hr," says Danko Salopek and adds, "Some children call the Blue Phone (Plavi telefon) or Brave Phone (Hrabri telefon) where experts work, so that we sometimes get information from them, and sometimes children turn directly to the children's ombudsman, and we get information that way too. When it comes to crimes against children, the most vulnerable group in society, they are all subject to public prosecution as it is assumed that the child does not know the formal procedure for filing criminal charges." 68 counts of criminal sexual intercourse with a child were recorded last year, as many as 176 indecent acts and 80 cases of satisfying lust in the presence of a child, and there were 23 cases of rape and attempted rape. There are also a growing number of cases of child pornography on the Internet.