Washington: A frontrunner to succeed Pope Benedict XVI has raised suggestions that gay priests are partly to blame for the sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church.
According to Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, homosexuality, which he termed as ‘cultural taboo’, is against the faith and the mission of the Church, which is the reason why homosexual priests are responsible for the Church’s sex abuse scandal, Huffington Post reports.
Insisting that homosexuality has not gained the same ground in Africa as in Europe, Turkson said that in several cultures in Africa, homosexuality, or any affair between two sexes of the same kind are not countenanced in their society as African traditional systems tend to protect its population against this tendency.
Turkson`s perceived anti-gay remarks were quickly condemned by pro-gay groups like the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who stated that less is heard about clergy sex crimes and cover ups in Africa for the same reasons as in the developing world -- there tend to be lesser funding for law enforcement, less vigorous civil justice systems, less independent journalism.
ANI
