Gay rights groups have exprsed outrage over ments ma by a senr Vatin official lkg homosexualy to child abe.
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GAY OUTRAGE OVER RDAL'S CHILD ABE MENT
Cardal Tarcis Bertone says a prs nference that homosexualy, but not celibacy, is lked to paedophilia RtersGay rights groups have nmned the Vatin's secretary of state, Cardal Tarcis Bertone, for claimg that the Catholic church's sexual abe crisis was lked to homosexualy and paedophilia and not celibacy among prits. Bertone, who is nsired Pope Benedict's number two, sparked the ntroversy on a vis to Chile when he suggted gay sexualy was to blame for the church's child abe sndals. Homosexual associatns Italy reacted wh anger and dignatn.
The biggt group, Arcigay, lled the rdal's words "shockg and irrponsible". The print of the gay media service, Gay, said if senr church officials "feel nstraed to dump the blame on homosexuals, says a lot about the current state of speratn the Vatin" rights advot Chile also wad . "Neher Bertone nor the Vatin has the moral thory to give lsons on sexualy, " Rolando Jiménez, print of the Movement for Homosexual Integratn and Liberatn Chile, told reputable study exists to support the rdal's claims, said Jiménez add.
"The rdal, who is known for his blunt and sometim tactls manner, ma the remarks at a televised prs nference Chile's pal said: "Many psychologists and psychiatrists have shown that there is no lk between celibacy and paedophilia but many others have shown, I have recently been told, that there is a relatnship between homosexualy and paedophilia. "In apparent embarrassment, the Holy See's official daily, L'Osservatore Romano, did not mentn Bertone's remarks s report on the prs years ago the Vatin implicly lked homosexualy and paedophilia when, followg the child abe sndals the US, banned men om studyg for the prithood if they "showed eply rooted homosexual tennci" the nnectn was qutned last year the prelimary versn of a report missned by the Amerin Catholic bishops, which is due to be published December. They said the data they had studied so far did not support a lk between a homosexual inty and a higher probabily of sexual abe.