Wed 14 Apr 2010 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone The Vatican's secretary of state has been slammed by gay rights groups for claiming that the Catholic church's sexual abuse crisis was linked to homosexuality and paedophilia and not celibacy among priests. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, considered Pope Benedict's number two, suggested gay sexuality was to blame for the church's child abuse scandals while on a visit to Chile. The cardinal, who is reportedly known for his blunt and sometimes tactless manner, made the remarks at a televised press conference in Chile's capital Santiago. He said: "Many psychologists and psychiatrists have shown that there is no link between celibacy and paedophilia but many others have shown, I have recently been told, that there is a relationship between homosexuality and paedophilia. This pathology is one that touches all categories of people, and priests to a lesser degree in percentage terms. The behaviour of the priests in this case, the negative behaviour, is very serious, is scandalous." The Guardian reports Italy's biggest gay rights group Arcigay called the cardinal's words "shocking and irresponsible", while the president of media service, Gaynet, said if senior church officials "feel constrained to dump the blame on homosexuals, it says a lot about the current state of desperation in the Vatican". Rolando Jiménez, president of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation in Chile, told AP no reputable study exists to support the cardinal's claims. "This is a perverse strategy by the Vatican to shirk its own ethical and legal responsibility by making a spurious and disgusting connection."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 14th April 2010 - 9:13am