Italian politicians reacted with
outrage and disgust on Tuesday after a Catholic priest said he
could understand being a paedophile but not being gay.
Father Gino Flaim, a pastoral collaborator of the San Pio X
church in Trento, told an afternoon talk show on La7 TV channel
that some children seek affection from a priest because they are
neglected at home.
Asked whether children cause paedophilia, he answered "to a
great extent, yes".
Barbara Saltamartini, MP for the rightwing, anti-immigrant
Northern League party said the attempt to justify paedophilia
was shameful.
"Let's remind this man that paedophilia is an extremely
serious crime, a disgrace, an abomination against minors," she
said.
Edoardo Patriarca from the center-left Democratic Party
(PD), who sits on a parliamentary commission for social affairs,
described the comments as absurd.
"Paedophilia must be fought at all times, avoiding any form
of justification," he said, praising the Trento archdiocese for
stripping the priest of his duties soon after the airing of the
interview, in which he also described homosexuality as an
illness.
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