Pierino Gelmini
Encyclopedia
Pietro "Pierino" Gelmini (born 20 January 1925) is a prominent Italian
former Roman Catholic priest
who founded the drug abuse
rehabilitation center
Comunità Incontro (Community Encounter).
Despite his 1971 imprisonment on charges of fraud
, Gelmini has been highly regarded for his work with the drug-addicted, having received praise from such figures as media
tycoon and prime minister
Silvio Berlusconi
, who gave € 5 million (six million dollars
) to Comunità Incontro in 2005, and the Italian Senator
Maurizio Gasparri
, who once celebrated him as "one of the few heroes of our time."
Personally accused of sexual abuse
by a total of twelve young men who claim to have been victimized while recovering at Gelmini's Amelia rehabilitation center, Gelmini was indicted in June 2010 and is currently awaiting a trial set to commence in 2011. Gelmini is now laicized
from the priesthood at his own request.
, a small community in the Province of Milan
, and grew up and studied in his native Lombardy
. (His official biography records him as a member of the Italian Resistance during the Second World War.) He was ordained
in the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church
in 1949. Gelmini's younger brother, Angelo Gelmini (born 1931), was ordained in 1952 and is well-known as Padre Eligio. Gelmini transferred to work in Rome
in the 1950s.
Gelmini's experiences in Rome prompted his creation of the drug rehabilitation
group Comunità Incontro (Community Encounter) in Amelia, Italy, where Gelmini purchased an abandoned mill and refurbished it to serve as a community therapy house after a personal encounter with a 18-year-old victim of a drug addiction lying in the middle of a street gutter
. (In publications, the Comunità Incontro records the 13 February 1963 date of Gelmini's meeting with the young drug addict, Alfredo Nunzi, as the date of its founding, although its first center at the Amelia mill was only opened on 27 September 1979.)
Italian investigative press reports
during the 2000s uncovered that in the 1960s and 1970s Gelmini was investigated for the white-collar charges of bankruptcy fraud and writing bad checks by prosecutors. (He was arrested a total of three times between 1960 and 1976.) The troubled Gelmini left Italy but ran into similar trouble in South Vietnam
, where allegations of foul play involved embezzling from the influential Huế
Archbishop
Ngô Đình Thục and the widow of Ngô Đình Diệm, the overwhelmingly Buddhist country's Roman Catholic first president
and dictator
. In Italy, he received a four-year prison sentence for fraud
upon his return in 1971. Although briefly suspended from his priestly work (cessatio a divinis) during this time, he was forgiven by the Catholic Church and continued working within its hierarchy. Such less-than-pleasant facts were not widely publicized in the press at the time and were systematically omitted from all of Gelmini's official biographies. Gelmini's last run-in with the law before the filing of sexual abuse
charges in the 2000s occurred in 1976, when he was investigated for corruption
but acquitted in court in 1977.
Despite such personal troubles, Comunità Incontro successfully expanded into a veritable network of services dedicated to the addicted and their varieties of social problems. At the beginning of the 1990s, Gelmini volunteered to be injected with an experimental AIDS vaccine in a study dedicated to finding an approach to dealing with HIV
.
A highly visible social figure towards the end of the 1980s, Gelmini produced written works in the 1990s which described both Centro Incontros therapeutic approach and his own experiences. Some writing was translated into Slovenian
and French
; a 1993 English
translation, A Plan for Life Community Encounter: Origins, History, Growth, was printed in the United Kingdom
by St. Paul's Press. In Italy, Gelmini's work became a subject of various domestic writers.
Having established its first foreign center in 1987, the Comunità Incontro organization had grown to encompass more than two hundred chapters around the world by the late 2000s, including a number outside Italy and as far away as South America
and Asia
. Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi
presented a speech on the occasion of Gelmini's birthday in January 2005. (Berlusconi donated a gift of € 5 million to Comunità Incontro chapters in Thailand
following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami disaster.) The politician Maurizio Gasparri
characterized him as "one of the few heroes of our time." Mass media
reports worldwide have described Gelmini as politically well-connected.
and forced kissing during their sexual encounter. Prosecutor Carlo Maria Scipio and deputy prosecutor Barbara Mazzulo ordered the launch of an investigation. In 2008, Gelmini was laicized at his own request to Pope Benedict XVI
.
A New York Times report on tensions in Jewish-Catholic relations described the Catholic Church as a target of additional criticism when Gelmini placed blame for the sexual abuse accusations on unspecified "Jewish radical-chic
" groups. The South Africa
n news and information website Independent Online
provided a translation of remarks Gelmini had made to the Corriere della Sera
. Gelmini was quoted as saying
Gelmini reversed himself after the issue of anti-Jewish hostility was raised and extended an apology to the Jews for his remarks. Still persisting in assigning blame by accusing the Freemasons, he was quoted by the Italian press as saying "I apologize to the Jews: I have very much respect and consideration for them, but I think there is a Masonic lodge
radical chic fighting the Church on all fronts. . ."
As prosecutors moved forward with an indictment
in June 2010, Gelmini dismissed the accusations as a "denigrating campaign of lies" and described the allegations as unfounded and impossible because of his advanced age at the time of the alleged abuse episodes. Defense lawyer Lanfranco Frezza offered the explanation that some of the accusers bore a grudge against Gelmini because they had been kicked out of the center for theft and other improper behavior and asserted that "no proof" would be forthcoming to support their claims.
Gelmini's trial has been scheduled to begin on 29 March 2011.
In Italian:
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
former Roman Catholic priest
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
who founded the drug abuse
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
rehabilitation center
Drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...
Comunità Incontro (Community Encounter).
Despite his 1971 imprisonment on charges of fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, Gelmini has been highly regarded for his work with the drug-addicted, having received praise from such figures as media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
tycoon and prime minister
Prime minister of Italy
The Prime Minister of Italy is the head of government of the Italian Republic...
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
, who gave € 5 million (six million dollars
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
) to Comunità Incontro in 2005, and the Italian Senator
Italian Senate
The Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...
Maurizio Gasparri
Maurizio Gasparri
Maurizio Gasparri is an Italian politician.After a period as Member of the Italian Parliament for the Movimento Sociale Italiano, Gasparri served as an Alleanza Nazionale member. During the course of his career he has served as Minister of Communications...
, who once celebrated him as "one of the few heroes of our time."
Personally accused of sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
by a total of twelve young men who claim to have been victimized while recovering at Gelmini's Amelia rehabilitation center, Gelmini was indicted in June 2010 and is currently awaiting a trial set to commence in 2011. Gelmini is now laicized
Defrocking
To defrock, unfrock, or laicize ministers or priests is to remove their rights to exercise the functions of the ordained ministry. This may be due to criminal convictions, disciplinary matters, or disagreements over doctrine or dogma...
from the priesthood at his own request.
Biography
Pierino Gelmini was born Pietro Gelmini in 1925 in Pozzuolo MartesanaPozzuolo Martesana
Pozzuolo Martesana is a comune in the Province of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 25 km east of Milan....
, a small community in the Province of Milan
Province of Milan
The Province of Milan : /) is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Milan. The provincial territory is highly urbanized, resulting in the third highest population density among the Italian provinces with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, just behind the provinces of...
, and grew up and studied in his native Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
. (His official biography records him as a member of the Italian Resistance during the Second World War.) He was ordained
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
in the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
in 1949. Gelmini's younger brother, Angelo Gelmini (born 1931), was ordained in 1952 and is well-known as Padre Eligio. Gelmini transferred to work in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in the 1950s.
Gelmini's experiences in Rome prompted his creation of the drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...
group Comunità Incontro (Community Encounter) in Amelia, Italy, where Gelmini purchased an abandoned mill and refurbished it to serve as a community therapy house after a personal encounter with a 18-year-old victim of a drug addiction lying in the middle of a street gutter
Street gutter
A street gutter is a depression running parallel to a road designed to collect rainwater flowing along the street and divert it into a storm drain. Where a curbstone is present, a gutter may simply be formed by the convergence of the road surface and the vertical face of the sidewalk; otherwise, a...
. (In publications, the Comunità Incontro records the 13 February 1963 date of Gelmini's meeting with the young drug addict, Alfredo Nunzi, as the date of its founding, although its first center at the Amelia mill was only opened on 27 September 1979.)
Italian investigative press reports
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
during the 2000s uncovered that in the 1960s and 1970s Gelmini was investigated for the white-collar charges of bankruptcy fraud and writing bad checks by prosecutors. (He was arrested a total of three times between 1960 and 1976.) The troubled Gelmini left Italy but ran into similar trouble in South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
, where allegations of foul play involved embezzling from the influential Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
Ngô Đình Thục and the widow of Ngô Đình Diệm, the overwhelmingly Buddhist country's Roman Catholic first president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
and dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
. In Italy, he received a four-year prison sentence for fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
upon his return in 1971. Although briefly suspended from his priestly work (cessatio a divinis) during this time, he was forgiven by the Catholic Church and continued working within its hierarchy. Such less-than-pleasant facts were not widely publicized in the press at the time and were systematically omitted from all of Gelmini's official biographies. Gelmini's last run-in with the law before the filing of sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
charges in the 2000s occurred in 1976, when he was investigated for corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
but acquitted in court in 1977.
Despite such personal troubles, Comunità Incontro successfully expanded into a veritable network of services dedicated to the addicted and their varieties of social problems. At the beginning of the 1990s, Gelmini volunteered to be injected with an experimental AIDS vaccine in a study dedicated to finding an approach to dealing with HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
.
A highly visible social figure towards the end of the 1980s, Gelmini produced written works in the 1990s which described both Centro Incontros therapeutic approach and his own experiences. Some writing was translated into Slovenian
Slovenian language
Slovene or Slovenian is a South Slavic language spoken by approximately 2.5 million speakers worldwide, the majority of whom live in Slovenia. It is the first language of about 1.85 million people and is one of the 23 official and working languages of the European Union...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
; a 1993 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation, A Plan for Life Community Encounter: Origins, History, Growth, was printed in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by St. Paul's Press. In Italy, Gelmini's work became a subject of various domestic writers.
Having established its first foreign center in 1987, the Comunità Incontro organization had grown to encompass more than two hundred chapters around the world by the late 2000s, including a number outside Italy and as far away as South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. Prime Minister
Prime minister of Italy
The Prime Minister of Italy is the head of government of the Italian Republic...
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
presented a speech on the occasion of Gelmini's birthday in January 2005. (Berlusconi donated a gift of € 5 million to Comunità Incontro chapters in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami disaster.) The politician Maurizio Gasparri
Maurizio Gasparri
Maurizio Gasparri is an Italian politician.After a period as Member of the Italian Parliament for the Movimento Sociale Italiano, Gasparri served as an Alleanza Nazionale member. During the course of his career he has served as Minister of Communications...
characterized him as "one of the few heroes of our time." Mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
reports worldwide have described Gelmini as politically well-connected.
Abuse accusations
In 2007, nine young men levelled accusations that Gelmini had sexually abused them at the Comunità Incontro chapter in Amelia; three more followed amid the spate of charges of abuse during the worldwide Roman Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal of the 2000s. One of the men alleged that he and the elderly Gelmini had engaged in fingeringFingering (sexual act)
Fingering is the manual manipulation of the clitoris, vulva, vagina, or anus for the purpose of sexual arousal and stimulation. It may constitute the entire sexual encounter or it may be part of mutual masturbation, foreplay or other sexual activities. To "finger oneself" is to masturbate in this...
and forced kissing during their sexual encounter. Prosecutor Carlo Maria Scipio and deputy prosecutor Barbara Mazzulo ordered the launch of an investigation. In 2008, Gelmini was laicized at his own request to Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
.
A New York Times report on tensions in Jewish-Catholic relations described the Catholic Church as a target of additional criticism when Gelmini placed blame for the sexual abuse accusations on unspecified "Jewish radical-chic
Radical chic
Radical chic is a term coined by journalist Tom Wolfe in his 1970 essay "Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's," to describe the adoption and promotion of radical political causes by celebrities, socialites, and high society...
" groups. The South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n news and information website Independent Online
Independent Online (South Africa)
Independent Online, or IOL is a news and information website based in South Africa. It is owned by the Independent News & Media organisation, which is the largest publisher of print material in South Africa....
provided a translation of remarks Gelmini had made to the Corriere della Sera
Corriere della Sera
The Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :...
. Gelmini was quoted as saying
Gelmini reversed himself after the issue of anti-Jewish hostility was raised and extended an apology to the Jews for his remarks. Still persisting in assigning blame by accusing the Freemasons, he was quoted by the Italian press as saying "I apologize to the Jews: I have very much respect and consideration for them, but I think there is a Masonic lodge
Masonic Lodge
This article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...
radical chic fighting the Church on all fronts. . ."
As prosecutors moved forward with an indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
in June 2010, Gelmini dismissed the accusations as a "denigrating campaign of lies" and described the allegations as unfounded and impossible because of his advanced age at the time of the alleged abuse episodes. Defense lawyer Lanfranco Frezza offered the explanation that some of the accusers bore a grudge against Gelmini because they had been kicked out of the center for theft and other improper behavior and asserted that "no proof" would be forthcoming to support their claims.
Gelmini's trial has been scheduled to begin on 29 March 2011.
Works
In English translation:- A Plan for Life Community Encounter: Origins, History, Growth Slough, UK: St. Paul's, 1993.
In Italian:
- Proposta di vita: la Comunità Incontro : genesi, storia, sviluppo. Milan: Edizioni Paoline, 1992.
- Don Gelmini incontra la musica italiana a Rock café. Milan: Edizioni Paoline, 1993.
- Fiori di mare. Pensieri. Turin: San Paolo Edizioni, 1999.
- with Alessandro Meluzzi: Cristoterapia. Dialogo di vita fonte di speranza. Roma Morena: Edizioni OCD, 2007.