By Angelo Amante

ROME (Reuters – Friday’s demonstration by anti-abuse groups near Rome’s Vatican embassy in Italy demanded action to investigate sexual abuse within the Catholic Church of Italy. This was amid ongoing discussions about how to organize such an investigation.

A small number of demonstrators approached the Apostolic Nunciature Building, close to Rome. They were carrying posters with photos of women and men wearing stained underwear. A nun’s veil was worn by one of the protesters.

According to them, they got their inspiration from an April protest in Tallinn Estonian capital. This was to bring attention to the violence that Russian forces have committed against females in Ukraine. Protesters applied fake blood to the underwear of demonstrators and their legs.

Francesco Zanardi, activist: “I was unfortunate to have suffered paedophilia. Every victim knows that they can’t recover from the pain they went through. But my greatest wish is for other children not to experience what I have.”

Zanardi (51), runs Rete l’Abuso (“The Abuse Network”) and formed in February a consortium known as “Beyond the Great Silence”, along with eight others, to press the Church of Italy to conduct an impartial investigation.

The Italian bishops disagree on whether an investigation of this scale should be done internally using resources like diocesan anti abuse committees or by outsiders that could include academics, lawyers, and abuse specialists.

It is not clear whether they should limit it to recent history or extend back several decades.

Zanardi explained that “a super partes” (impartial body is required to handle this situation. In this instance, it is the state. But, for many years, the state has been the major absent party in the whole matter.”