Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Vatican blames gays for child sex abuse

Peter Tatchell: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone says gays caused the church paedophilia scandal.

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.

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.

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.

Peter Tatchell is the spokesperson for the UK 'Protest the Pope' campaign.

His
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.

5 comments:

M said...

A Croatian Eastern Catholic priest, who is well known because he writes a weekly column in one of the most-read Croatian daily papers, has accused atheists and non-believers for - well, basically, for making up the claims about sex abuse. He literally said that atheists and non-believers hated the Church and that this is the reason behind all these stories about abuse and everything. So far, various members of the Church have blamed the abuse scandals on Satan, on the homosexuals and on the atheists. It's never the priests' fault, how funny is that?

Antonis said...

I tried to sign the petition but there was no link on the page - it just has the names of the signatories. Is there another page?

Stan Moss said...

You can't sign it at the moment.

The same page you referred to says:

"During the official campaign period for the General Election the e-Petitions system will be closed to new submissions and signatures. The Government will also not issue responses to petitions during this period. This is to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Civil Service Code on party political neutrality.

Any petitions due to close between the announcement of the General Election and 3 June will have their deadlines extended to 3 June. Petitions will reopen for signatures upon the formation of the Government following the General Election.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time."

So I'm afraid we'll have to wait a couple of months.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Fine post. It is the way of the abuser, makes excuses, justify and always, always put the blame on the victim.

What vile behaviour.

Anita said...

There should be an outcry. The Vatican's words are vile, vile, vile. I'm fairly sure though that this is just the beginning of their official downfall. Bunch of paedophiles in a cassock.