Reports claim that an Italian bishop aided and abetted a pedophile priest by telling him to avoid police and ignored evidence that the priest was using Grindr to meet teenage boys.
The priest, Antonello Tropea, 44, was arrested after an investigation uncovered his Grindr account was being used to lure underage boys, whom he then had sexual relations with in his car or his rectory in Calabria.
Suspicions were raised initially when Tropea was discovered with a teen in his car in a remote location. At the time, Tropea claimed to be the boy’s P.E. teacher, but reports say he had “suspicious objects” in his rucksack.
The subsequent investigation revealed the bishop’s role in covering the crimes up.
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According to La Repubblica newspaper, the two-month probe also found that Tropea picked up boys on Grindr under the name Nicola, the same name as the patron saint of his parish in Messignadi in southern Italy, San Nicola di Mira.