SPAIN
Zee News
Madrid: Spanish prosecutors have opened an investigation into newly chosen Spanish Cardinal Fernando Sebastian Aguilar after a gay-rights group accused him of hate speech for calling homosexuality a “defect”.
The public prosecutor for the southern province of Malaga, Juan Carlos Lopez, said he had opened a preliminary inquiry “to clarify whether the allegations constitute a criminal offence,” according to a document obtained yesterday.
Sebastian, who is close to Pope Francis, is one of 19 new cardinals chosen by the pontiff last month to be officially appointed on February 22.
A week after being picked, the 84-year-old archbishop emeritus of Pamplona gave an interview to a Malaga newspaper that drew condemnation from gay-rights activists.
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