Canada: Bishop Raymond Lahey pleads guilty to child pornography
Five teenage girls rescued from a cyber sex den are silhouetted in this photo taken at Preda Foundation office on December 2, 2010, in Olongapo City, Philippines.
A Roman Catholic bishop, Raymond Lahey, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Ottawa, Canada, to attempting to import child pornography. Lahey then turned himself in, the Montreal Gazette reports.
Lahey admitted to possessing 588 child pornography images and an additional 60 videos and stories, it states. The images and stories showed the humiliation and slavery of young boys.
In some of the images, the boys were as young as 8 years, the New York Times reports.
The pornographic material was found when Lahey was stopped by border security agents as he returned from Britain in 2009.
The Vatican has said it will also consider imposing disciplinary measures, AP states.
"The Catholic Church condemns sexual exploitation in all its forms, especially when perpetrated against minors," the Vatican's press office said in a statement, adding "the Holy See will continue to follow the canonical procedures in effect for such cases, which will result in the imposition of the appropriate disciplinary or penal measures."
Lahey faces 1 to 10 years in prison.
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