Rome , Italy ( CNN ) -- A priest accused of child abuse denied the charges Tuesday in a high-profile trial taking place in the shadow of the Vatican . `` I am not a monster . I am innocent , '' the Rev . Ruggero Conti said in court . Conti is accused of molesting seven young boys at the Nativita di Santa Maria Santissima parish in Rome . He faces charges of committing sexual violence and prostitution . Two alleged victims told police that Conti masturbated them and forced them to perform oral sex on him in his home , where he often invited them to dinner and to watch movies , according to court documents . Anti-abuse activists say Conti 's superiors knew of allegations against him as early as 2006 but did not do enough to stop him . Prosecutors say they will call Conti 's bishop , Monsignor Gino Reali , to testify . Reali was interrogated by police as part of their investigation into Conti , the activists say . Putting a bishop on the stand in Rome , the capital of deeply Catholic Italy , would be potentially explosive , particularly against the background of a European-wide scandal . The Catholic Church has been rocked this year by allegations of child abuse by Catholic clergy in Ireland , Germany , Austria and the Netherlands , following similar accusations in the United States in the past decade . A damning Irish government-backed report last year said the Dublin Archdiocese had systematically covered up the allegations . Pope Benedict XVI met this month with a group of men in Malta who say they were abused . He prayed and cried with them . He has repeatedly insisted the church will do everything in its power to prevent child abuse . But the trial taking place on his doorstep may undercut such assurances , not least since the alleged abuse of boys took place well after the scandal came to light in the United States . Conti , a former adviser to the mayor of Rome , was arrested in June 2008 , more than a year after an anti-pedophilia organization says it brought accusations against him to Catholic Church officials . Roberto Mirabile , the president of the organization , said his group was warned about Conti by another priest in the spring of 2007 . The group , La Caramella Buona , met with the alleged victims and their families , Mirabile told reporters on Friday . Mirabile himself went to top Vatican officials , including the man responsible for prosecuting alleged child abusers within the Catholic Church , Monsignor Charles Scicluna , he said . Scicluna told the child-protection activist there was no Vatican record of complaints about Conti and advised him to go to the police with his concerns , Mirabile said . Mirabile accused Scicluna of washing his hands of the matter . Scicluna did not respond to CNN attempts to contact him about the case . Caramella Buona officials did go to the police , who launched an investigation in November 2007 . Conti was arrested as he prepared to go to World Youth Day in Australia in June 2008 . Police believe he continued abusing children until March 2008 , Mirabile said . Conti 's superior , Bishop Reali , told police in December 2008 he knew of vague accusations against the priest two years before he was arrested but did not take action , according to court documents . Nino Marazzita , a lawyer for La Caramella Buona , provided CNN with what he said were transcripts of the prosecutor 's interrogation of the bishop . `` You know that there are so many 'rumors , ' `` Reali told investigators , according to the lawyer . `` And I ca n't run after each one of them . '' Conti accused La Caramella Buona of being ideologically opposed to him in his testimony Tuesday . The group denies it . Reali did not respond to CNN attempts to contact him by phone and e-mail .
Rev . Ruggero Conti denies charges of child molestation at trial in Rome , Italy . Potentially explosive trial being held in the shadow of the Vatican . Conti , former adviser to mayor of Rome , was arrested in June 2008 . Church has been rocked by allegations of child abuse by Catholic clergy in Europe .