Priests accused of sexual abuse in religious order shut by Vatican

Nine members of a religious order that was shut down by the Vatican are under investigation for sex assault.
The dioscese said that the members of the Disciples of the Annunciation community have been arrested amid allegations about links to the abuse of two young brothers. They were boys at the time of the abuse, but denounced it as adults.
Catholic clergy do not have an obligation to report sex abuse in Italy. The priest who reported allegations against the members of the group to the police pledged the church’s cooperation.
Among the priests under investigation was also Giglio Gilioli, the 73-year-old founder of the community.
Recently, Pope Francis was praised across the globe for taking a major step to fight pedophilia silence in the Vatican, by announcing a new document that lifts the protection of priests with the pontifical secrecy rule in sex abuse cases.
Last year, the Pope also made some reforms to support reporting of sexual abuse cases. He raised the age in the definition of child pornography, from 14 to 18.