Altar boys at St Peter’s Basilica on 13 March 2015.
(ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)

 

Pope Francis has decided that the boys’ college at the centre of a major abuse-and-coverup scandal and criminal trial will no longer have a home inside Vatican City.

— Rome — The Holy See Press Office announced on Tuesday that the St Pius X Preseminary will move to a location outside of the Vatican City State.

“For some time now, the idea of transferring the St Pius X Preseminary to a location outside the Vatican Walls has been under consideration,” Tuesday’s statement said. The decision to relocate was taken, in part, “to facilitate the proximity of young students to the places where they carry out their studies and practice their recreational activities.”

Responding to a query from the Catholic Herald, Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni said he was unaware of any specific location having been identified as the new seat of the school.

Pope Francis informed the current Rector, Father Angelo Magistrelli, of the decision at a recent audience. “His Holiness did not fail on this occasion to express his deep gratitude to Fr Magistrelli for the work carried out in the 75 years since the foundation of the institution,” the statement reads.

The “new stage in the life and activity of the St Pius X Preseminary… will undoubtedly offer it new opportunities for growth and development, especially in the area of promoting vocations to the sacred ministry.”

The students of the school are expected to continue as altar servers at St Peter’s.

The college houses boys aged 12-18 who are considering the priesthood, and provides servers for papal events and other liturgies at St Peter’s Basilica. The Preseminary has been under increased scrutiny after Fr Gabriele Martinelli was accused of sexually abusing a fellow student while the two were pupils at the institution. The former rector of the institution, Fr Enrico Radice, has been accused of covering up and enabling Martinelli’s abusive behaviour.

Both have denied the accusations. The trial of the two priests is currently underway in the Vatican.

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