Church accused of covering up priest's abuse, and paternity

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Gerald Erebon looks over livestock at the Archers Post settlement in Kenya on Sunday, June 30, 2019. Erebon has been an outcast all his life: Tall, light-skinned with wavy hair, he looks nothing like the dark-skinned Kenyan man listed as his father on his birth certificate, or his black mother or siblings. He and his family say that’s because his biological father is the Rev. Mario Lacchin, an Italian priest of the Consolata Missionaries order who ministered in Archers Post, Kenya in the 1980s. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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The Rev. Mario Lacchin presides over a Mass at the Restoration Centre Catholic Church in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sunday, June 30, 2019. Sabina Losirkale's family has accused the Italian missionary of impregnating her when she was 16. Lacchin has denied the claim and refused a paternity test. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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Scolastica Apayo, sister of the late Sabina Losirkale, looks through her old photos in the Isiolo area of the Archers Post settlement in Kenya on Sunday, June 30, 2019. Scolastica said her sister finally told her the secret in 2012, two weeks before she died. “Now that my days are over,” her sister told her, she could reveal all: “When Gerald will ask you who’s his father, just tell him: Father Mario.” (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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Gerald Erebon sits with students at his old primary school where he said kids used to be tease him about him being the priest's son, in the Isiolo area of the Archers Post settlement in Kenya on Sunday, June 30, 2019. The Vatican is investigating Erebon’s claim that his father is the Rev. Mario Lacchin, an Italian missionary priest who impregnated his mother soon after she turned 16. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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Gerald Erebon is welcomed by his aunt, Scolastica Apayo, at her home in the Isiolo area of the Archers Post settlement in Kenya on Sunday, June 30, 2019. Scolastica said her sister, Sabina Losirkale, finally told her the secret in 2012, two weeks before she died. “Now that my days are over,” her sister told her, she could reveal all: “When Gerald will ask you who’s his father, just tell him: Father Mario.” (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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Gerald Erebon sits with his aunt, Scolastica Apayo, as she holds a phone displaying a photo of the Rev. Mario Lacchin, during an interview at her home in the Isiolo area of the Archers Post settlement in Kenya on Sunday, June 30, 2019. Scolastica said her sister, Sabina Losirkale, finally told her the secret in 2012, two weeks before she died. “Now that my days are over,” her sister told her, she could reveal all: “When Gerald will ask you who’s his father, just tell him: Father Mario.” (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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The Rev. Mario Lacchin presides over a Mass at the Restoration Centre Catholic Church, Nairobi, Kenya Sunday, June 30, 2019. Sabina Losirkale's family has accused the Italian missionary of impregnating her when she was 16. Lacchin has denied the claim and refused a paternity test. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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In this photo taken on Sunday, June 30, 2019, members of the Restoration Centre Church celebrate Mass in the Nairobi suburb of Karen, Kenya, on Sunday, June 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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Gerald Erebon sits for a portrait inside Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in the Isiolo area of the Archers Post settlement in Kenya on Sunday, June 30, 2019. Erebon has been an outcast all his life: Tall, light-skinned with wavy hair, Erebon looks nothing like the dark-skinned Kenyan man listed as his father on his birth certificate, or his black mother or siblings. He and his family say that’s because his biological father is the Rev. Mario Lacchin, an Italian priest of the Consolata Missionaries order who ministered in Archer’s Post, Kenya in the 1980s. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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Gerald Erebon and his sister, Lina Ben, hold photos of them and their mother, Sabina Losirkale, who passed away in 2012 after a long illness and depression, in the Isiolo area of the Archers Post settlement in Kenya on Sunday, June 30, 2019. When Lina was 14, she asked her mother why Gerald didn’t look like her other children, and why his friends often referred to him as “mtoto was padre” _ “child of the priest.” Her mother initially pushed her away, but eventually told her that “Dad to Gerald is a priest called Father Mario and he is not here.” (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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Gerald Erebon prepares napier grass to feed cows at the Catholic seminary farm in the Nairobi suburb of Karen, Kenya, on Sunday, June 17, 2019. In mid-2013, Erebon reached out to the Rev. Mario Lacchin, sending him a series of emails over the span of two months, hoping to establish a relationship following his mother’s death. “Ever since I knew you as my real biological father, I could not stop asking myself questions as to why I was born the way I was born, which consequently had put hate in me against you,” Erebon wrote. But he said he had since had a change of heart and now forgave him. “I love you father,” he wrote. “Let us not allow the past to affect our present and future.” Lacchin has denied the claim and refused a paternity test. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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Gerald Erebon uses a machete at the Catholic seminary farm in the Nairobi suburb of Karen, Kenya, on Sunday, June 17, 2019. In mid-2013, Erebon reached out to the Rev. Mario Lacchin, sending him a series of emails over the span of two months, hoping to establish a relationship following his mother’s death. “Ever since I knew you as my real biological father, I could not stop asking myself questions as to why I was born the way I was born, which consequently had put hate in me against you,” Erebon wrote. But he said he had since had a change of heart and now forgave him. “I love you father,” he wrote. “Let us not allow the past to affect our present and future.” Lacchin has denied the claim and refused a paternity test. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)