Pope defrocks Maltese Franciscan priest who sexually abused 14-year-old boy

Pope Francis has officially defrocked a 50-year-old priest convicted of sexually abusing a teenage boy and sentenced to three years in jail.

The erstwhile parish priest of Burmarrad, Donald Bellizzi, 50, was a member of the Franciscan Order.

He was found guilty in June 2020 of corrupting the boy, a crime for which he was sentenced to three years in prison and confirmed on appeal.

The Vatican’s decree was issued on 3 December and then counter-signed by Bellizzi himself on 22 December. Bellizzi is now one of 84 people, two of whom are female, listed in Malta’s sexual offences register.

Bellizzi was charged with corrupting the boy and another two minors, participating in sexual acts with them and producing or circulating child pornography. He was eventually cleared of the latter charge but found guilty of the first two.

Bellizzi had appealed, insisting that the sexual contact had been consensual and protested that the punishment meted out to him was excessive.

The abuse had taken place at two retreat homes during the summer of 2010, with the victim being one of five youths who had decided to spend two days in the convent, after expressing a vocation to the priesthood. The priest had taken photographs of the boys as they showered. The victim said he had ended his relationship with the priest at the age of 17.