"Neither Bertone nor the Vatican has the moral authority to give lessons on sexuality," Rolando Jimenez

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's Secretary of State

¨The Vatican's second-highest authority says the sex scandals haunting the Roman Catholic Church are linked to homosexuality and not celibacy among priests. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, made the comments during a news conference Monday in Chile, where one of the church's highest-profile pedophile cases involves a priest having sex with young girls. "Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and pedophilia. But many others have demonstrated, I have been told recently, that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia. That is true," said Bertone. "That is the problem." His comments drew angry reactions from Chile's gay rights advocates.

"Neither Bertone nor the Vatican has the moral authority to give lessons on sexuality," said Rolando Jimenez, president of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation in Chile. Jimenez also said no reputable study exists to support the cardinal's claims. "This is a perverse strategy by the Vatican to shirk its own ethical and legal responsibility by making a spurious and disgusting connection," he said. At least one of the highest-profile pedophiles in the Chilean church victimized young girls, including a teenager who became pregnant. At the time, the archbishop of the capital, Santiago, received multiple complaints about Father Jose Andres Aguirre from families concerned for their daughters. But the priest — known to his parishioners as Father Tato — continued serving at a number of Catholic girls schools in the city. Later the church sent Aguirre out of Chile twice amid abuse allegations. He was eventually sentenced to 12 years in prison for abusing 10 teenage girls.¨ HERE

UPDATE

¨So, it’s no wonder that with this warped view of sex and sexuality, the RC Church and most of its clergy would feel, and express, revulsion against same-sex love, since many of their clergy are likely to be sexually fearful and/or sexually frustrated and repressed, unless they have been called by God to be celibate for God’s sake...¨

¨The Vatican must realize that the church’s belligerent, resentful and paranoid response to the global scandal is not working because it now says it will cooperate with secular justice systems and that the pope will have more meetings with victims. It is too little, too late.

The church that through the ages taught me and other children right from wrong did not know right from wrong when it came to children. Crimes were swept under the rectory rug, and molesters were protected to molest again for the “good of the universal church.” And that is bad, very bad — a mortal sin.¨ HERE

UPDATE on TUESDAY:

Pedophilia libel

¨The Vatican is flailing its arms trying to pawn its current crop of sex abuse charges on the gays. They've been doing it for years, and you can almost hear the Cardinal saying, "Please just believe it's their fault. You hate them, right? Can't you just blame them instead of the church you love?" HERE

· Thanks to The Associated Press
· Thanks to Brad Haynes
· Thanks to Joe.My.God, sidebar
· Thanks to The Reverend Jerry Maneker
· Thanks to Rolando Jimenez
· Thanks to Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation in Chile
· Thanks to A Christian Voice for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Rights, sidebar
· Thanks to The Bilerico Project, sidebar
· Thanks to Alex Blaze