Brazil
Bishop: Kids Are Spontaneously Gay,
Society
At Large Is Pedophile
A Brazilian archbishop said
adolescents are
"spontaneously homosexual" and in
need of guidance, while society at
large is
pedophile, according to a Wednesday
report.
Archbishop Dadeus Grings — a
conservative
priest who has made controversial
statements
in the past — told the O Globo
newspaper
at a Brazilian bishops conference
that
society's woes are being reflected
in the
sex abuse scandal enveloping the
Roman
Catholic Church. "Society today is
pedophile, that is the problem. So,
people
easily fall into it. And the fact it
is
denounced is a good sign," Grings
told
O Globo. The comments come as the
church is
under fire for a sex abuse scandal
touching
all corners of the globe — and three
weeks
after Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the
No. 2
official at the Vatican, said at a
news
conference in Chile that the sex
scandals
were linked to homosexuality and not
celibacy among priests. There have
been
several cases of priests allegedly
abusing
children that have surfaced in
Brazil in
recent months. Father Geraldo
Martins, a
spokesman for the National
Conference of
Brazilian Bishops, said Grings would
not be
made available to elaborate on his
comments
made Tuesday to O Globo.