A sexual assault trial for the former papal envoy to France went ahead despite his absence on Tuesday.
Archbishop Luigi Ventura (75) had produced a doctor’s note saying it was too dangerous for him to travel from Rome to the trial in Paris during the coronavirus epidemic.
Lawyers for the accusers of the retired papal envoy asked for the trial be postponed because he wasn’t present.
The court ruled against a postponement.
A detailed testimony from multiple men stated Ventura groped their buttocks in public settings.
The accusers included a former seminarian, Mahe Thouvenel, who said Ventura grabbed him repeatedly when they celebrated Mass in December 2018.
“These are facts that happened to me, that hurt me, and I suffered a lot,” he said.
Asked in court what he would have said to Ventura had the former papal envoy attended the trial, Thouvenel replied: “Monseigneur, why did you do that?”
Represented by his defense team, Ventura was tried on five counts of alleged sexual assault.
Three of his alleged victims were in court.
Ventura has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Sexual assault is punishable by up to five years imprisonment and fines in France.
His lawyer, Solange Doumic, told the court the case had been blown out of proportion.
It has become “the trial of the Vatican, of hidden homosexuality at the Vatican,” she argued.
The accusations are “minor,” she said.
While agreeing Ventura touched hips or backs, his intentions were never sexual, Doumic said.
As none of his gestures lasted more than a few seconds, he might not have realized they could be regarded as inappropriate, she explained.
She also said Ventura had experienced behavioral problems since he was operated on for a brain tumor in 2016.
The Vatican lifted Ventura’s diplomatic immunity, allowing for his trial.
However, the prosecutor, Alexis Bouroz, produced a Vatican letter at the trial on Tuesday. It said Rome still reserves the right not to apply any eventual punishment for Ventura, if he is convicted.
“The only question I ask myself is why does he deny the facts?” Bouroz said. “This question will remain unanswered.”
He asked for a 10-month suspended jail term.
Lawyers for the alleged victims were not pleased at the suggestion the Vatican could spare Ventura punishment, if he is convicted.
“The Holy See doesn’t give a hoot for your deliberations,” Thouvenel’s lawyer told the three judges.
Thouvenel said his seminary expelled him after he filed a police complaint.
Another accuser, Mathieu De La Souchere, said Ventura touched his buttocks repeatedly during a public reception.
The judge said during prior questioning, Ventura he had a “Latin” temperament: there was nothing sexual about his gestures.
“Mr. Ventura is lying,” De La Souchere told the court.
“There is talk of a hand on a buttock,” he said. “It was more than that.”
The Vatican recalled Ventura last year and he later retired. It has recalled other diplomats when they get into trouble during overseas postings.
The court is expected to deliver its verdict on 16 December.
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