Abuse Group Responds to Pope's Alleged 'Gay Lobby' Remarks

Gazzetta Del Sud
June 12, 2013

http://www.gazzettadelsud.it/news/english/50096/Abuse-group-responds-to-pope-s-alleged--gay-lobby--remarks.html


(see related) Rome, June 12 - A leading group supporting victims of priest sex abuse responded Wednesday to reports of Pope Francis complaining of a gay lobby in the Vatican and a "stream of corruption" in the Roman Curia. "Sexual orientation isn't the real problem. Sexually active and thus compromised clerics are the real problem," said Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the US-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). "Allegedly celibate men (gay or straight) can, and often do, take advantage of their status and power. "It's highly unlikely there will be a thorough 'clean sweep' of Curia personnel. But if that were to happen, it still won't make much of a difference. "Structure, not sexuality, is the real issue. The church is a monarchy. Monarchs are unaccountable. So many monarchs are corrupt". On Tuesday Francis' reported comments surfaced after a private audience last week with a key Latin American church group, the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious (CLAR). They were translated and printed on the Rorate Caeli blog, which is read in Vatican circles. "...it is difficult. In the Curia, there are also holy people, really, there are holy people," said the report. "But there also is a stream of corruption, there is that as well, it is true... The 'gay lobby' is mentioned, and it is true, it is there... We need to see what we can do..." CLAR apologised to Francis, saying it was "deeply sorry", after "the personal accounts of those present at the June 6 audience" were made public. It stressed the pope's comments had not been recorded but were what CLAR members remembered of his answers to their questions.