ROME – A Sicilian priest who has been serving in the Archdiocese of Perugia for nearly 10 years has been arrested on charges of child pornography and child prostitution after allegedly paying for explicit images of minors sent via online chats.
A native of Caltavuturo, near Palermo, Father Vincenzo Esposito, 63, has overseen a parish in the San Feliciano neighborhood of Magione, in the regional province of Perugia, since his appointment there in 2013.
He was arrested over the weekend following an investigation by the Carabinieri, the Italian military police who enjoy broad authority in Italy, of Termini Imerese, in Sicily, and is currently being held at a jail in Spoleto, Umbria.
Esposito is accused of making sexual advances to four minor boys through video chat applications such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Specifically, he is charged with sending money to the boys, who are under 18, in exchange for explicit images of themselves.
A 50-year-old woman, the mother of one of a 17-year-old victim, has also been arrested for allegedly receiving payments from Esposito in exchange for explicit calls or videos of her son.
The precautionary custody order issued by Judge Fabio Pilato of Termini Imerese described Esposito’s alleged misconduct as a “perverse modus operandi in contempt of the principles of religiosity.”
According to the order, taps on Esposito’s phone revealed that on some occasions, after receiving explicit images from one of the boys, he would complement the photos and ask for a similar image or video in which the boy’s face was visible at the moment of arousal.
On many occasions, the boy would ask for money either before or after sending the content. Esposito would then pay small sums to the boy’s mother in exchange for these virtual sex acts.
Part of the investigation into Esposito focused on a tobacco shop where he apparently went almost daily to send small amounts of money, around 10 euro at a time, to the boy’s mother.
Police in Sicily sped up their investigation after Esposito some months ago invited one of the boys to visit him at his home in San Feliciano, making “even more alarming, if possible, the danger that the prostitution behaviors committed by the suspect may also take place live,” Pilato said in his custody order.
Esposito’s lawyer, Renato Vazzana, who is based in Palermo, has said Esposito has denied the accusations and maintains his innocence, and plans to fight the charges in court.
In remarks to local news outlet Umbria24, Vazzana said he had the opportunity to speak with Esposito for a brief conversation before he went to jail, “during which he denied any accusation, also claiming that he only knows one of the boys indicated as the offended party, they are three minors, while he has never even met the others.”
Vazzana said Esposito denies “both having requested and obtained sexual services online and obviously having paid.”
All things considering, Esposito is “very serene, albeit embittered,” Vazzana said, insisting that when the formal interrogation happens, “he will challenge all of the charges.”
Multiple attempts by Crux to reach Vazzana for comment were unsuccessful.
In an Aug. 3 statement issued the Archdiocese of Perugia expressed “shock and pain” at the news of Esposito’s arrest, pledging “the most complete willingness to collaborate with judicial authorities in order to achieve the truth of the facts.”
The archdiocese stressed that no one ever came forward with a complaint about Esposito, saying, “no report has ever been made to the ecclesiastical authority relating to the facts under investigation.”
“However, the commitment to diligently investigate the facts remains a priority, applying the indications dictated by canonical legislation and following any indications offered by the Holy See,” they said, but offered no details on what the next steps will be for Esposito in terms of any canonical investigation.
An investigation could be opened immediately after examining the facts and evidence, or the archdiocese could choose to await a final verdict from civil authorities before proceeding with their own course of action.
Representatives from the Archdiocese of Perugia did not respond to a Crux request for comment.
Should a canonical investigation be opened into Esposito, one important aspect could be a recent adjustment to Church law in which Pope Francis, in December 2019, took the significant step of abolishing the pontifical secret in cases of child abuse, and raising the age for what constitutes the crime of possession of child pornography under church law to images of anyone under 18, raising it from 14; and should he be found guilty of possession of child pornography, it could be one of the first public cases to which this new modification is applicable.
Speaking to Crux, Francesco Zanardi, spokesman for the Italian Rete d’Abuso survivors network of victims of clerical abuse, said that Esposito’s case is not the only one.
“In just a few days, there have been three cases in Italy, of all kinds,” he said, adding, “Italy is full (of them), but people don’t know because the papers don’t write about it.”
“In Italy we have two problems: One is the Church, which does the same thing it does in [other] countries,” in terms of abuse and coverup, “and we also have justice in the Church which doesn’t move.”
Zanardi said that despite Bassetti’s assurance that he is ready to comply with whatever the Holy See asks in Esposito’s case, he does not believe there will ever be real transparency about the issue.
“The diocesan communiques are always the same: immense pain, we are praying for the victims. We’re shocked, we didn’t expect it. It’s always the same,” he said, noting that there have been three different popes since the 1980s, “but the music hasn’t changed.”
Follow Elise Ann Allen on Twitter: @eliseannallen
