Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone says gays caused the church paedophilia scandal
London – 13 April 2010
The number two in the Vatican hierarchy, the Pope’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, claims there is a link between homosexuality and child sex abuse.
“He has, in effect, blamed gay priests for the paedophile scandal that has engulfed the Church,” said human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, who is a spokesperson for the UK ‘Protest the Pope’ campaign.
See the story about the Cardinal’s comments here:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/latinamerica/6955641.html
“Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone is a blatant distorter of the truth and an outrageous homophobe. His vile smears against gay people bring shame and dishonour to the church,” added Mr Tatchell.
“The Vatican is trying to deflect attention from the sex crimes of Catholic clergy by blaming gay people. This is really sick.
“The truth is that priests and bishops abused girls and boys alike. There is absolutely no connection whatsoever between paedophilia and loving, consenting adult gay relationships. It shows the depths of dishonesty and homophobia that infects the Vatican at the highest level.
“The Vatican leadership is morally bankrupt and is rightly scorned by all decent Catholics.
“The Vatican and its clergy are responsible for child sex abuse, the cover-up and the protection of paedophile priests. Yet it is trying to blame everyone else.
“First, the Vatican attempted to dismiss and hide child sex abuse. Then it tried to silence the victims with pay-offs and threats of excommunication. In 2001, the Pope ordered Bishops to observe ‘papal secrecy’ and he ignored paedophile abuse cases that were bought to his attention.
“More recently, the Vatican accused the media of waging an anti-Catholic campaign. It compared criticism of the Pope to the Nazi persecution of the Jews. These are insulting lies and nonsense,” said Mr Tatchell.
Peter Tatchell’s petition to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, against the Pope’s State Visit to Britain in September, is on the Downing Street website.
It already has over 12,000 signatures:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/ProtestthePope/
Catholic Bishops praised
Response to the English Catholic Bishops Conference statement (13 April) on child
sex abuse and sexual orientation
London – 15 April 2010
“I commend the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales for theirintelligent, calm and accurate rejection of a causal link betweenpaedophilia and sexual orientation. Their measured, non-homophobic tonecontrasts sharply with the shrill, scapegoating comments of CardinalBertone,” said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell of gay humanrights group OutRage!
“The Bishops are right to point out that a propensity to child sexabuse is not based on a person’s sexual orientation but on a sexualfixation with young people.
“The reputation of the Vatican and the Pope has been badly damaged byrecent attempts to blame gays, the media and Jews for the public outcryover the sex crimes of Catholic clergy.
“The response of the English and Welsh Bishops is much more mature andreasoned than the nonsense that has been coming out of the Vatican inthe last few weeks,” said Mr Tatchell.