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Vatican on child abuse: other churches are worse than us
st and Ethical Union (IHEU) that it has covered up cases of child abuse involving Catholic priests, with Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society (and representing IHEU) stating that:
"The many thousands of victims of abuse deserve the international community to hold the Vatican to account, something it has been unwilling to do, so far. Both states and children's organisations must unite to pressurise the Vatican to open its files, change its procedures worldwide, and report suspected abusers to civil authorities."And how did the Vatican respond? By stating that only "somewhere between 1.5% and 5% of the Catholic clergy has been involved in sexual abuse cases" and pointing out that:
"While many speak of child abuse, i.e. pedophilia, it would be more correct to speak of ephebophilia, being a homosexual attraction to adolescent males. Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90% belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the age of 11 and 17 years old."And having made sure we all have our terminology sorted, the Vatican goes on to use the "other people are at it too" defence, pointing out that sexual abuses have almost been committed by Protestant and Jewish clergy in the United States. The Vatican ends by stating:
"As the Catholic Church has been busy cleaning its own house, it would be good if other institutions and authorities, where the major part of abuses are reported, could do the same and inform the media about it."Which somehow makes the Vatican less guilty, presumably?
FW 2/7/11
blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2009/09/vatican-on-child-abuse-other-churches.html