By Ruth Gledhill and Richard Owen
The Times
April 14, 2010
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7097668.ece
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| Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone |
The Vatican moved to distance itself today from comments made by the Pope’s top aide linking paedophilia to homosexuality, as the Foreign Office dismissed suggestions that the pontiff could be arrested when he visits Britain in September.
Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said that the remarks by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, went outside the remit of Church authorities, adding that the comments had been misunderstood.
“General assertions of a specifically psychological or medical nature” were the responsibility of specialists and not Church officials, he said in a statement.
Father Lombardi said that Cardinal Bertone had been referring only to cases of paedophilia in the clergy and not to “the world population”.
He said that recent “statistical data” on the abuse of minors by priests showed that 10 per cent of the cases concerned paedophilia “in the strict sense”, while the other 90 per cent concerned sex between priests and adolescents.
Catholic bishops of England and Wales also distanced themselves from the comments.
Father Marcus Stock, general secretary of the Bishops’ Conference, said in a statement: “To the best of my knowledge there is no empirical data which concludes that sexual orientation is connected to child sexual abuse.
“The consensus among researchers is that the sexual abuse of children is not a question of sexual orientation, whether heterosexual or homosexual, but of a disordered attraction or fixation.”
He added: “Many abusers of children have never developed the capacity for mature adult relationships. Instead, their sexual attractions focus on children — boys, girls, or both. In the sexual abuse of children the issue is the sexual fixation of the abusers and not their sexual orientation.”
France added its voice to the chorus of condemnation, saying that it was “unacceptable” to lump paedophilia with homosexuality. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “This is an unacceptable linkage and we condemn this.”
The crisis over clerical sex abuse threatens to overshadow the Pope’s visit to Malta this weekend. Eleven Maltese men who claim to have been sexually abused as children by Catholic priests are demanding a meeting with him.
“We are asking to meet the Pope so he can apologise to us in person,” said Lawrence Grech, who was abused at a Catholic orphanage on Malta. “We want to meet the Pope for a few minutes to help us heal and to overcome this trauma.”
The Foreign Office told The Times that the UK was “delighted” that the Pope had accepted the Queen’s invitation to visit the UK in September. “The UK has full diplomatic relations with the Holy See and the Pope is recognised as its head of state. He therefore has sovereign immunity,” a spokesman said.
It refuted suggestions from the atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins and author Christopher Hitchens that there might be a case for charging the pontiff for crimes against humanity.
The Pope, who has not commented on the paedophilia crisis since his pastoral letter to Irish bishops a month ago, maintained his silence on the issue at this weekly audience on St Peter’s Square.
He said that priests had a duty to bring “the light of God” to people during “the confusion of our times”, but did not mention the abuse scandal.
On Monday the Vatican posted on its website guidelines that made it clear for the first time that bishops must report abuse to police.
Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, the Pope’s secretary, came out in defence of the Pope, arguing that he had done more than anyone else to crack down on abuse.
“It does not make sense, nor is it helpful, for the Holy Father to comment personally on each case,” he told the German newspaper Bild, speaking publicly for the first time since the scandal broke.
“It is overlooked too fast that various bishops and bishops conferences carry responsibility.”
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