The Vatican's secretary of state has linked the sex scandals currently rocking the Roman Catholic Church to homosexuality, not celibacy among priests.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, second in command to the pope, made the comments Monday at a press conference in Chile, where a priest is being investigated for 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," Bertone said. "That is true. That is the problem."
Gay rights activists in Chile were quick to dismiss Bertone'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," said Rolando Jimenez, president of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation in Chile.
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