Catholicism

Gay rights groups have condemned the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, for claiming that the Catholic church’s sexual abuse crisis was linked to homosexuality and paedophilia and not celibacy among priests.

Bertone, who is considered Pope Benedict’s number two, sparked the controversy on a visit to Chile when he suggested gay sexuality was to blame for the church’s child abuse scandals.

Homosexual associations in Italy reacted with anger and indignation. The biggest group, Arcigay, called the cardinal’s words “shocking and irresponsible”. The president of the gay media service, Gaynet, said if senior church officials “feel constrained to dump the blame on homosexuals, it says a lot about the current state of desperation in the Vatican”.

Gay rights advocates in Chile also waded in. “Neither Bertone nor the Vatican has the moral authority to give lessons on sexuality,” Rolando Jiménez, president of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation in Chile, told AP.

Source/Full Story: The Guardian