Porn scandal damages Austrian church's image, official says

Published: 2004-07-15

OXFORD, England (CNS) -- An Austrian church official said a pornography and sex scandal at an Austrian seminary has "greatly damaged the church's public image." Erich Leitenberger, spokesman for the Austrian bishops' conference, said it was up to the Vatican to decide what should be done regarding the scandal at the seminary in St. Polten, west of Vienna. "For the last half-year, we've been engaged in a direct campaign of re-evangelization here, with public opinion focused on the central message of the Gospel. Since (the scandal broke), the main discussion has been about infantile forms of sexual misbehavior. This had greatly damaged the church's public image, and Rome must decide what should be done," he said. Vienna's Profil news magazine published pictures July 11 of priests and students engaged in sexual acts, claiming they formed part of a cache of 40,000 photos and child pornography videos found on seminary computers during 2003.

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