Senior Catholic cardinal claims there is a connection between homosexuality and sexual abuse
Cardinal Walter Brandmuller is one of the most senior figures in the Catholic Church
By Steve Brown
Another Catholic cardinal has claimed sexual abuse in the church was caused by gay men rather than priests.
A study found that from World War Two to 2014, more than 1,670 Catholic priests had abused around 3,677 mostly male minors and most recently Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was forced to resign after being accused of sexually assaulting young boys.
However, many other bishops and cardinals have denied the sexual allegations and many have claimed that paedophilia in the church does not exist but is instead caused by gay men.
And now, cardinal Walter Brandmuller – one of the most senior figures in the Catholic church in Germany – told DPA that the public debate on the sexual abuse “forgets or silences that fact that 80 per cent of the cases of sexual assault in the church affect male youths not children”.
He then added that it was “statistically proven” that there was a connection between homosexuality and sexual abuse.
Brandmuller argued that society was “hypocritical” in its condemnation of sexual abuse by priests and said: “What has happened in the church is nothing other than what is happening in society as a whole.”
The 89 year old then said the deeper problem was a growing sexualisation of society and added that “the real scandal is that the Catholic Church hasn’t distinguished itself from the rest of society.”