VATICAN CITY
The Salt Lake Tribune
By JOSEPHINE MCKENNA | Religion News Service
First Published Jul 14 2014
Vatican City • Pope Francis has provoked a debate within the Catholic Church after being quoted as saying that one in 50 Catholic clerics is a pedophile.
In the latest example of his get-tough stance against sex abuse — and his signature style of frank answers to tough questions — the pope told the Italian daily La Repubblica that the sexual abuse of children was like “leprosy” in the church, and he pledged to “confront it with the severity it requires.”
But the exclusive interview with 90-year-old veteran journalist Eugenio Scalfari published Sunday drew an immediate reaction from the Vatican that disputed the accuracy of the pontiff’s quotes.
“Even we have this leprosy at home. Many of my advisers who are fighting it with me are giving me reliable data that estimates pedophilia inside the church at a level of 2 percent,” the pope was quoted as saying. “This figure should reassure me, but I have to tell you that it does not reassure me at all. Instead I consider it very serious. Among the 2 percent who are pedophiles are priests, and even bishops and cardinals.”
The number would represent 8,000 priests, based on the latest Vatican figures that count a total of 414,000 priests globally.
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