Don Fortunato Di Noto has been a priest since 1991, and since 1995 he has led the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in his hometown of Avola, in the province of Syracuse, on the island of Sicily. A few years earlier, together with a group of people of good will, he founded the Association Meter -from the Greek "mother", hence "mothering" and "womb"- (https://www.associazionemeter.org), which from the very beginning has applied itself with determination in the field of the protection of minors, in the fight against pedophilia and online pedopornography, becoming a point of reference in Italy, where it also collaborates with investigative and judicial bodies. In this interview with Palabra he explains some aspects of his experience and of this sad phenomenon.
-Don Fortunato, 30 years ago you were one of the pioneers in the fight against the sad plague of child abuse. How was your mission born?
The advent of the Internet gave me the opportunity to see the first images (videos and photos of abuse) of children who were suffering, and so I began in the parish with a commitment that was not intended to be only occasional or to follow a trend, but would soon become permanent.
At the beginning we were isolated, we were laughed at, humiliated and condemned: nobody believed what we denounced day after day. Nor did we have the laws or the sensitivity that today is still slow to grow. The first motion in the world, from the Italian Parliament, dates back to 1997.
This was the beginning of a commitment against new forms of slavery. Pedophilia and pedopornography are a crime against humanity. Let us hope that everyone agrees on this.
In so many years of fighting against pedo-criminality, what idea has been made of the tragic phenomenon that affects, first and foremost, large sectors of civil society?
Will you believe me if I tell you that we have reported that thousands of newborns have been victims of abuse? And if I told you that in the last 16 years we have reported about 30 million photos and videos with children ranging in age from a few days to 12 or 13 years? And that we have taken in and accompanied more than 1600 victims? There are 23 national and international police operations that between 2003 and 2018 have started as a result of the signals made by Meter.
The numbers of the phenomenon are impressive: 134,222 web pages corresponding to links to more than 30 million photos and videos; 2,639 people reported; 1,066 people investigated; about 400 arrests in Italy and worldwide. Not to mention that thousands of complaints have not been pursued by the police forces. I am not saying this out of vanity, but rather to collect the concrete action to stop every abominable predatory act against the little ones and the weak. Many times, in order to help understand the phenomenon, we have had to show concretely the work of Meterwhich takes place 24 hours a day. The official protocols with the Italian Postal Police, and with others in various parts of the world, bring to light that the number of children involved in this clumsy market is enormous, with an unquantifiable business and for the concrete lack of international exchange and collaboration.
-The Church, evidently, has not been immune from this drama. Where, in your opinion, do the roots of such horror lie?
The Church is to be loved, because despite the scandals -lamentable and condemnable according to justice and zero tolerance- she is a loving and welcoming mother, where the little ones have always found welcome and protection. The Church is not a multinational that produces abusers of the small and vulnerable. Abuse is abuse, no matter where it comes from. And the Church has always confronted the perversion of its faithful, priests and baptized laity. That "I renounce Satan and all his works and all his seductions" is a constant battle. And perhaps it is necessary to start from the formators and from the conscience of the type of priest we want today.
-At the end of February, the Holy Father gathered all the presidents of the world's bishops' conferences at the Vatican to reflect on this tragedy. For your part, what do you consider fundamental to defeat this "monster", as someone has defined it?
The good news is that we are not in year zero. Monsters are recognized, and it is possible to know the phenomenon concretely. Acts of sexual abuse start from the seduction of a sick and perverse love, seductive and manipulative, which instead of giving life offers death and devastating trauma. We must listen to the victims, devastated and with permanent signs of the damage suffered. We will not win, but we have to fight. We will not save all the children, but for some we have to do it. To watch and act: to watch and act on the normalization of pedophilia and the consumption of pedopornography, and to accept that in love there is no age. Also in the Church.
