Less than a week after a Vatican-backed study revealed the adult entertainment business is experiencing significant growth despite Italy’s current recession, Italian police carried out a series of raids across the country to bring down a 186-member child pornography ring that included three priests, according to the Associated Press.
Italian officials said the group downloaded photos and video content containing sexual abuse of children ages 4 to 8. The pics were downloaded from a Web site that could be accessed only with a password. The site was operable only for nine days before authorities shut it down last July after they were tipped by Telefono Arcobaleno, a local association that polices the Internet for child abuse.
Searches were conducted at the homes and offices of 159 suspects in 16 of 20 Italian regions on Tuesday. The remaining 27 suspects were investigated during recent months. Videos containing child pornography were taken from the computers of three priests; suspects also included a mayor, a police officer, and a social worker. So far, no suspects have been arrested.
Authorities said they were studying the videos in an effort to identify the locations where they were filmed and who had filmed them.
Following the results of last week’s study, which was conducted by the renowned Eurispes Institute and sponsored by the Vatican, Archbishop John Foley stated that the increased revenue generated by the adult entertainment industry indicated a “sad and desolate” situation for Italian society. “The overall sales figures from pornography are enormous,” he said at the time. “The money invested is astronomical and the effects, especially on children, are often devastating.”
The investigation into the child porn ring continues.
