'Priests' celibacy and paedophilia unrelated'

Santiago, Apr 13: In an attempt to tone down the sex scandal that has tainted the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican's secretary of state, cardinal Tarcisio Bertone on Monday, Apr 12, said that celibacy has nothing to do with paedophilia.

"Many psychologists and psychiatrists have shown that there is no link between celibacy and paedophilia, but many others have shown, I have recently been told, that there is a relationship between homosexuality and paedophilia," Bertone, also serving as the Deputy Pope, told a news conference in Santiago.

"This pathology is one that touches all categories of people, and priests to a lesser degree in percentage terms," he said. "The behaviour of the priests in this case, the negative behaviour, is very serious, is scandalous."

Berton, who is on a visit to Chile, said that the Pope Benedict XVI would soon come up with surprising steps in connection with the sex abuse scandal. However, he refused to comment further into the matter.

Berton's visit comes in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal involving priests. Most of the victims are reported to be boys.

It has been alleged that the Catholic church tried to cover up the cases and that the Pope had mishandled the cases when he was a bishop in Germany and a Vatican official before his election in 2005.

OneIndia News