Prato, the arrested parish priest Don Francesco Spagnesi

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23 September 2021Church packed, hundreds gathered in the parish of the Annunciation at Castellina in the presence of the Bishop of Prato Monsignor Giovanni Nerbini: "It is a

prayer of reparation

as a sign of consolation, forgiveness, truth and justice".



A meeting for a community upset after the

arrest of the priest Don Francesco Spagnesi

, 40, with the accusations of drug trafficking, trafficking and embezzlement, because he bought the 'rape drug' with the money of the offers of the faithful to the parish giving life in hard parties with the partner, and attempted injuries, because it would have concealed the HIV-positive status from some sexual partners.



The former parish priest who ended up under house arrest in mid-September is now also being investigated for fraud, the latest complaint by the investigators is the acknowledgment of alleged offenses that he allegedly committed asking for money from the faithful after the bishop's interdiction to use the accounts of the parish, a ban started at the end of last April (Suspicious of the huge expenses that had drained the coffers of the parish). At that juncture, Don Spagnesi - as

he himself confirmed on Monday in the guarantee questioning before the judge for preliminary investigations

- he found himself having to find money for the purchase of drugs: he therefore turned to some of the faithful and acquaintances with private messages to ask for financial aid to be allocated "to needy families who had fallen into poverty during the period of the fight against Covid" . The priest asked for money to be paid on a prepaid card in his name.



A week after the scandal speaks the lawyer Federico Febbo, defender of Spagnesi together with his colleague Costanza Malerba: "The massive use of cocaine - continues the lawyer - has detached him from reality to the point of making him live a double life.

Don Spagnesi has said he wants to detox

, who wants to start a process and for this reason he will already receive a visit from the staff of the Sert in the next few days. "According to the lawyer, the priest has already delivered a list of the damaged parishioners, with the relative offers, with the intention of compensating them.