Croatia: Priest detained on pedophile charges

Croatia: Priest detained on pedophile charges

Drago Ljubičić, 63, who served on the northern island of Rab, was detained Wednesday evening on charges of performing "lecherous acts" on five children, police said in a statement.

The case has shocked Croatia, where nearly 90 percent of the country's 4.5 million people consider themselves Catholics and the church enjoys wide government and popular support.

The spokesman for the regional diocese, Danijel Delonga, said the church would take appropriate measures against Ljubičić if the suspicions are confirmed. "Such acts are shameless treason of a priest's vocation," he said.

Ljubičić’s case is the second of alleged pedophilia among priests in Croatia.

In 2003, a priest from Zagreb was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for abusing 13 girls. His sentence was later reduced to three months on probation, a ruling critics said showed the judiciary's reluctance to go against the church.