Lawyer for US priest says to appeal extradition

ROME (Reuters) – A Rome court on Thursday ruled that a
fugitive American priest wanted in the United States on charges
of sexually molesting boys can be extradited home but his
lawyer said he would appeal the decision.

Father Joseph Henn, wanted by authorities in Arizona since
2003, has been living under house arrest at the headquarters of
his religious order in Rome.

U.S. authorities want him extradited to face charges of
molesting three boys when he worked in a parish in Phoenix
diocese in the 1980s.

His lawyer, Michele Gentiloni Silverij, told reporters he
would appeal the extradition ruling to a higher court. The
Justice Ministry will have to make the final decision on the
extradition, however.

The lawyer raised eyebrows last November when he urged the
court not to approve the extradition saying his client risked
being killed in prison if he were sent home.

The U.S. Catholic Church has been rocked by a priestly
sexual abuse scandal that began in Boston in 2002, when it
emerged that priests who had abused children and teenagers were
transferred from parish to parish instead of being defrocked.

As the scandal swept across the United States the finances
of many American dioceses have been hit by multi-million dollar
law suits by those claiming to have been molested by priests
when they were children or teenagers.