Pell 鈥榤ust rebuke abuse claim鈥�
Australia鈥檚 most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has been called on to publicly refute claims that homosexuality is to blame for clergy abuse of children in the church.
New Mardi Gras co-chair Steph Sands said the claims, made by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, were a disgrace and Cardinal Pell should rebut them as Catholic leaders in England and Wales had.
鈥淭he Pope鈥檚 second-in-command鈥檚 claim that there was evidence gays were to blame for child abuse is simply untrue, without scientific basis and an outrageous slur aimed to stigmatise gay and lesbian people around the world,鈥� she said.
Calls to the Catholic Communication Office for comment were not returned.
Sands was one of a growing chorus of community members to decry the claims that sent the international media into a frenzy.
Anthony Venn-Brown of Freedom 2 b[e] was appalled by the claim.
鈥淚t鈥檚 outrageous and has no foundation in up to date scientific research,鈥� Venn-Brown said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e come to expect ludicrous comments like this from Fred Phelps in Topeka, Kansas, not an educated person.鈥�
Tim from gay Catholic group Acceptance said he was saddened by the Cardinal鈥檚 views but stressed they were not mainstream among Australian Catholics.
鈥淎cceptance is very disappointed with the statements by the Cardinal,鈥� Tim said.
鈥淭his attitude seems to be specific to particular individuals within the hierarchy in Rome. We鈥檙e fortunate that in Australia there are a number of parishes and other groups that respect the dignity of gay and lesbian people who wish to practise their Catholic faith.鈥�
Community Action Against Homophobia co-convenor Ben Cooper told Sydney Star Observer that Bertone鈥檚 comments were an insult to victims of sexual abuse.
鈥淭he last thing survivors of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church need is priests trying to downplay this very serious problem,鈥� he said.
ACON CEO Nicolas Parkhill said reputable research showed no more of a connection between pedophilia and homosexuality than it did with heterosexuality.
鈥淭o suggest otherwise is a blatant misrepresentation of the truth which has been rightly condemned by leading experts and other reasonable people throughout the world,鈥� Parkhill said.
鈥淭he prejudice and discrimination against homosexuals which such fear-mongering engenders results in gay men and lesbians being cut off from their families and friends, denied basic legal and social entitlements, bullied at school or in the workplace, and subjected to abuse and violence.鈥�
Cardinal George Pell, the arch-conservative Archbishop of Sydney, will never refute Bertone’s nonsense. Indeed, Pell shares Bertone’s stated views!
Pell’s public statements are rabidly anti-homosexual.
And here is Pell expressing the same views as Bertone in an interview in Virginia in the USA in May 2006:
“As you know most of the abuse, at least in the English speaking world, that is most of the clerical abuse, is not in the strictest terms pedophilia, but what’s called ephebophilia, and that is with young fellows as adolescents after puberty. And what is significantly different, which you would also probably be aware, is that 80% of the abuse is with young boys. So I mean it’s obviously connected with the problem of homosexuality.”
Pell recently spoke on the current ‘abuse scandal’. The video is on the website of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, and is also embedded at the following site;
In an address lasting three and a half minutes, Pell spent about half the time in defending the RCC & the Pope and (mostly) attacking other organizations and individuals.
Peter – I agree.
I am though worried why some Christian groups, especially the Catholics, do not want us to adopt.
Do they want to keep the children as sex slaves in the institutions? Or is it about the money the Salvos etc get from “managing” the children as caseworkers.
Either way orphans have a large dollar value to many Christian Churches.
Perhaps our campaign for adoption should focus on saving children from these monsters.
There was an interesting article in The Age that covers Cardinal Pell’s time in Melbourne.
We cannot change either Pell (as Archbishop) nor the Pope and his cronies. They are not voted in or out. We will, however, be able to vote for State government soon – both of the major parties are under the spell of Pell and the religious right. Who decided that gay adoption should be blocked, despite all the recommendations? It was a Catholic premier. Will we see any marriage or even relationship rights for gays – NO. Neither side will do anything.
I am an (ex)Labour supporter, but until we get a religiously independent Labor/Liberal party I will vote for the Greens, who, if nothing else, are not at the beck and call of Pell.
I agree Pell should step up to the mark on this. I will not be holding my breath tho. Thank you to the Star for following this story, unlike some other gay and lesbian publications
George Pell is an arch-conservative whose actions over many many years show that his priorities are to protect the church and its finances. Go to
and enter Pell in that site’s internal search engine.
Pell won’t condemn Bentone’s idiotic claims. What I cannot understand is why the church has not handed these criminals who have committed child abuse over to the police for prosecution? Does being a priest somehow entitle you to different treatment under the law to other paedophiles, if you have abused children? Paedophiles are paedophiles, no matter what occupation, and all are equally culpable for their crimes. And those protecting them ought to be prosecuted as accomplices.
The Pope has changed his Nazi Uniform to a Catholic Pope’s Uniform. He has not changed his views on homosexuality since he saluted Hitler, who murdered over 15,000 members of our community in the death camps. Overnight the Catholic Youth became the Hitler Youth all those years ago.
Anyone who wants to know how Mr Pell handled child sexual abuse by nuns and priest in Australia should look at the 60 minutes story on him. It was an eye opener. I got a sick feeling in my stomach watching the show and his response.