Priest slammed for paedophile comments

(ANSA) - Rome, October 6 - 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.