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September 20, 2005
Pope Speaks Out on Homosexual Priests
When I first started blogging, the topic I posted mostly on was the Catholic church's pedophile priest problem, and how the media completely ignored the fact that >90% of the instances were between priests and boys, thus making this as much a homosexual priest problem. Well, today the Pope has reaffirmed the church's stance on the issue.
Pope Benedict XVI has given his approval to a new Vatican policy document that bans men with homosexual tendencies from being ordained as priests, reports Catholic World News.The policy statement is a direct result of the pope's concern about the pedophilia scandal in the church – especially in the U.S.
The new document, prepared by the Congregation for Catholic Education in response to a request made by the late Pope John Paul II in 1994, will be published soon. It will take the form of an "Instruction," signed by the prefect and secretary of the congregation: Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski and Archbishop Michael Miller, according to the report.
This is not a change in policy. It's meant most likely for the North American churches that have been ignoring it.
The "Instruction" does not represent a change in church teaching or policy, according to the Vatican.Catholic leaders have consistently taught that homosexual men should not be ordained to the priesthood. Pope John XXIII approved a formal policy to that effect, which still remains in effect. However, during the 1970s and 1980s, that policy was widely ignored, particularly in North America.
Posted by Doug at September 20, 2005 01:37 PM
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I'm not even sure 'pedophile' is the right title for the problem based on the ages of the victims. It seems (and I may be wrong on this) that most victims were not pre-pubescent, which is what makes a pedophilic assault pedophilic, and not just sexual. It could well be the media making sure they labelled the perps with a universally disdainful label rather than one which they feared would weaken the homosexual agenda.
Posted by: douglas at September 20, 2005 04:00 PM
Correct, and in fact in one of the blog posts I wrote back then (the second link above), I noted a report that the vast majority of the cases involved older teenagers. So your take on the labeling issue is spot on.
Posted by: Doug Payton at September 20, 2005 05:17 PM
I haven't seen any info along these lines in the Catholic Church's problems, but generally speaking, pedophilia is a heterosexual, not a homosexual, issue.
Homosexual pedophiles are considered a perversion of the normal homosexual man in the same way that heterosexual pedophiles are also a perversion.
Heterosexual men are twice as likely to sexually abuse children as homosexual men are. I've seen some evidence that the overwhelming majority of child abuse cases, including same gender sexual abuse, are perpetrated by heterosexuals.
Pedophilia is a child assault problem, not a gay nor straight problem.
Posted by: Dan Trabue at September 20, 2005 07:45 PM
In absolute numbers, yes there are more heterosexual pedophiles in the US. But that's because, in absolute numbers, there are way more heterosexuals. I wouldn't be surprised to find that most are white vs. black. I'd be willing to bet that 1/12th of them were born in July. That really doesn't tell us anything.
However, per capita, there are far more incidents of pedophilia among homosexuals than heterosexuals; 7.5 times as many in the study written about in that link. Yes, pedophilia in itself is a child assault problem. But you have to be willingly blind to not see the obvious correlation there. We, as a society, ignore that at our peril, or the peril of our children.
Just ask the Catholic Church.
Posted by: Doug Payton at September 20, 2005 08:45 PM