Vatican blames homosexuality for pedophilia scandal

[Saya]

SANTIAGO, Chile — The Vatican's second-highest authority says the sex scandals haunting the Roman Catholic Church are linked to homosexuality and not celibacy among priests.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, made the comments during a news conference Monday in Chile, where one of the church's highest-profile pedophile cases involves a priest having sex with young girls.
"Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and pedophilia. But many others have demonstrated, I have been told recently, that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia. That is true," said Bertone. "That is the problem."
His comments drew angry reactions from Chile's gay rights advocates.
"Neither Bertone nor the Vatican has the moral authority to give lessons on sexuality," said Rolando Jimenez, president of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation in Chile.
Jimenez also said 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," he said.
At least one of the highest-profile ********** in the Chilean church victimized young girls, including a teenager who became pregnant.
At the time, the archbishop of the capital, Santiago, received multiple complaints about Father Jose Andres Aguirre from families concerned for their daughters. But the priest — known to his parishioners as Father Tato — continued serving at a number of Catholic girls schools in the city.
Later the church sent Aguirre out of Chile twice amid abuse allegations. He was eventually sentenced to 12 years in prison for abusing 10 teenage girls.
One of the girls, identified as Paula, said that she and the priest started to have sex when she was 16 and that it lasted until she was 20.
She told the Chilean newspaper La Nacion: "I thought it wasn't that bad to have sex with him because when I told priests about it at confession they just told me to pray and that was it. They knew, and some of them guessed that it was Father Tato. But everyone looked the other way. No one corrected or helped me."
She said one of the priests she confessed to about her sex with Aguirre was Bishop Francisco Jose Cox, who himself was facing allegations of pedophilia.
Cox had been bishop in La Serena, in northern Chile, for seven years when he was removed in 1997 amid rumors that he was a pedophile. He was first transferred to Santiago, then Rome, then Colombia, and finally Germany. The Schoenstatt movement, a worldwide lay community within the Catholic Church, paid for the moves and his treatment.
In 2002, Santiago Archbishop Francisco Javier Erraruriz said Cox had agreed to be removed for "inappropriate conduct."
The archbishop acknowledged Cox had shown "affection that was a bit exuberant," especially toward children, but said, "I'm not aware of any formal allegation backed by evidence."
Erraruriz said Cox volunteered to be confined to a Schoenstatt convent in Colombia to continue "praying to God for his pardon for the errors he has made."
Last week, the archbishop admitted the Chilean church was investigating cases of priest pedophilia after playing the issue down for years.
"There is something to these pedophilia abuses — just a few, thank God," Errazuriz said in an interview on state television.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...oyPKAD9F1Q5C00

Between this and comparing the outrage against the Church to the persecution to Jews, it seems like the Vatican just doesn't know when to shut the fuck up.

[Ben Lahnger]

Well, haven't you heard it's all the media's fault, and people should stop listening to all that gossip.

And people wonder why I quit the church. Well, actually, I quit because they kicked me out of being an altar boy, but this crap (that's been happening for decades) along with the church's long history of doing horrible things just confirmed my decision was the right one.

[Kalitrima]

Oh, fun times. My uncle's a priest (I wouldn't ever think he'd ever do something like that, though), so that means he'll tell this to my grandparents, which will make life for me a little more difficult. Yeah, that's gonna make family time a bit more awkward. . . I'm glad Mom never made me go to church.

[Still Jack]

Most priests deserve "Decker ant zänn" ( a decent kicking ) for being thieving little cunts. Seriously, becoming one of the richest organizations on the planet without selling any product? Seems pretty bloody fishy to me...

[Kalitrima]

I bet it's mostly from social pressure when they bring by the baskets. Mom used to give me a dollar or two to put in when I was little. On holidays and stuff. Because I was sad being the only one who didn't put anything in.