Kenya: DNA tests to find the children of priests
A private laboratory has been set in Kenya to invites child mothers to do DNA tests.
The laboratory has been commissioned by an international Catholic organization to conduct paternity tests for possible care.
The mothers of children of priests who will come to the services of this laboratory will pay subsidized rates for the tests.
The testing centers will run these DNA tests for 30 days and the laboratory will then have to submit a confidential report to the Vatican for a decision by the Catholic Church.
Several cases have been reported in Kenya where Catholic priests have broken their vows of celibacy to have children whom they then abandoned.
Some are prosecuted and others are ignored in religious congregations.
In a case recently announced in Nairobi, a priest is accused of having participated in the murder of two boys of whom he is the father.
The plaintiffs say he would have helped to remove them to cover up his actions.
In a statement released last week, the Vatican recently acknowledged that for decades the Catholic Church had not been firm on the alleged sexual abuse of minors by religious.
On the question of the responsibility of the church to provide psychological and financial support to the children of priests and their mothers, a commission was created last year by Pope Francis to bring Catholic dioceses to find ways solutions.
