May 22, 2007 / 08:50 am
Plans by Italy's RAI television network to air a BBC program on sexual abuse have been condemned by Italian Church leaders. However, the program is not certain to air because Mario Landolfi, who heads RAI's parliamentary oversight committee, has requested a ban on its broadcast. According to Landolfi, the program unfairly attacks the Church.
An editorial in the daily Avvenire, published by the Italian bishops' conference, accused the bloggers who posted the video of "calumny against the Church and the Pope.” The Italian version of Google has also posted the documentary which has become the most viewed video on the site, according to the Guardian.
The BBC program, "Sex Crimes and the Vatican," aired in England last October, drawing bitter protests from Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster.
The firestorm of criticism began when RAI made plans to purchase the program from the BBC and broadcast it on its "Year Zero," popular current affairs show hosted by Michele Santoro.