Priest charged with pocketing donations

A priest has been charged with fraud in the city of Trikala, in central Greece, for obtaining significant amounts of money in donations that would supposedly benefit a young man with health issues.

Police say that two bank accounts in which people were asked to deposit money contained €12,922.50. They also seized €2,110 and a cellphone when they arrested the priest; further search at his home yielded €20,000 in cash and receipts for cellphones, laptops and other items, all bought with money donated for the young man, who told state TV ERT he never saw any of it.

The 23-year-old also claimed the priest had physically tortured him as part of an exorcism ritual to “relieve him of the demons,” as he had told him.

The priest has been suspended from his duties by the metropolitan bishop of Fthiotida.