FORT WORTH, Texas - A former priest accused of sexually abusing at least five minors in Rhode Island and Texas is HIV positive, Catholic diocese officials said Thursday.
Last week, a leader in the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth heard someone mention that the Rev. Philip A. Magaldi has the virus that causes AIDS, said diocese spokesman Pat Svacina. The leader, the Rev. Michael F. Olson, then got verbal confirmation from Magaldi as well as a letter from his doctor who said he has HIV but not AIDS, Svacina said.
The diocese then alerted the alleged victims and the parishes where Magaldi served for nearly four decades, Svacina said.
Fort Worth diocese officials said they believe that Magaldi has been HIV positive since at least 2003.
Magaldi, 71, lives in a retirement center and diocese officials declined to disclose where. He has previously said he was innocent of the sexual abuse allegations, for which he has not been charged.
E- Yeah. Sure. Celibate like he was supposed to be. Must have gotten HIV through all the needle sharing the priests do.
He was removed as a priest in 1999 amid claims of sexual misconduct in Providence, R.I., where he served from 1960-90, and the Fort Worth area, where he served from 1990-92 and 1993-99.
He was out of the ministry while serving a brief stint in prison in 1992 after embezzling about $200,000 from his Rhode Island parish, officials said.
E - Did you get that one? He was removed as a priest in 1999 after sexual misconduct allegations, but continued to be a priest during and after serving time for embezzling $200k from his parish. What did a priest need the $200k for? Homosexual hookers and cocaine?
In an unrelated case, Magaldi also was accused of lying in the Newport case of Claus von Bulow, who was acquitted of trying to kill his heiress wife.
E - Yeah, a real stand-up guy this Magaldi. Definitely someone who should be ministering to the flock. Sexual relations, homosexual relations, possible pedophilia, grand theft, possible perjury.... Ad he's hearing confessions. Nice.
In 2006, a pastor at a North Richland Hills Church apologized to the congregation amid reports that five years earlier he didn't tell police ...
E - Another stand-up guy...
...after learning of inappropriate material involving minors on the computer used by Magaldi, who led the church the last six years of his ministry.
E - Add child porn to the list.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, urged the dioceses to aggressively seek out potential victims. He said it's impossible to know the number of victims because many children and teens abused by priests don't ever come forward.
"There's a real chance of someone suffering not only a horrific childhood trauma but also a current adult infection because of this priest," Clohessy said.
Magaldi is one of six priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth accused of abusing minors,
E - One of 6. In just the Fort Worth area. What do you think it is nationally? One thousand? Ten thousand?
... according to 700 pages of previously secret files that were part of a sexual abuse lawsuit settled in 2005. The documents were released by a judge last year.
In Rhode Island, three separate allegations were reported in 1998, 2002 and last year against Magaldi.
Bishop Kevin Vann of the Fort Worth diocese is flying to Rome next week to ask the Vatican to expedite the process of having Magaldi defrocked, which would remove him from clerical status, Svacina said.
E - Yeah, better get him of that list 'quickly'. Its only been 9 years since he was tossed. If they don't act soon, someone may think the Vatican doesn't really take it seriously or care.
According to the Providence diocese, it is in the process of contacting those who have made allegations against Magaldi.
In a statement, the Providence diocese said it fully supports the efforts of the Diocese of Fort Worth to seek dismissal of Magaldi from the priesthood.
E - They didn't do it (despite the sexual abuse, child porn, and theft... but they 'support' another diocese doing it. Big of them, huh?
Magaldi's earlier troubles included a 1985 indictment on perjury and obstruction charges for allegedly lying in a sworn statement in support of von Bulow to help him get a new trial. The charges against Magaldi were dropped in 1987.
In Von Bulow's second trial in 1985, he was acquitted of trying to kill his wife with insulin injections at their Newport, R.I., mansion.
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