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World|life|July 14, 2014 / 10:14 AM
Around 2% of Catholic clergy pedophiles – Pope Francis

AKIPRESS.COM - pope francis Pope Francis has been quoted as saying that reliable data indicates that around 2% of clergy in the Catholic Church are pedophiles, BBC reported referring to the Italian La Repubblica newspaper.

The Pope said that abuse of children was like “leprosy” infecting the Church. He vowed to “confront it with the severity it demands.”

But a Vatican spokesman said, however, the quotes in the newspaper did not correspond to Pope Francis' exact words.

Sunday's edition of La Repubblica devotes its first three pages to an account of a conversation between Pope Francis and editor Eugenio Scalfari, which took place last Thursday. Papal spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a sharp note that it was not an interview in the normal sense of the word, although he admitted it conveyed the “sense and the spirit” of the conversation.

Scalfari does not use a digital recorder, and Father Lombardi said Pope Francis never checked the accuracy of the interview.

Until now, the Vatican has declined to quantify the extent of clerical sexual abuse scandals in the worldwide Church. Statistics are usually available only for countries in the developed world. In the developing world, information is usually only sketchy.

In the interview, Pope Francis was quoted as saying that the 2% estimate came from advisers. It would represent around 8,000 priests out of a global number of about 414,000.

While the incidence of pedophilia as a psychiatric disorder in the general population is not accurately known, some estimates have put it at less than five percent.

“Among the 2% who are pedophiles are priests, bishops and cardinals. Others, more numerous, know but keep quiet. They punish without giving the reason,” Pope Francis was quoted as saying. “I find this state of affairs intolerable.”

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi denied that Pope Francis had said that there were cardinals who were pedophiles.

Last year, Pope Francis strengthened the Vatican's laws against child abuse and earlier this month begged forgiveness from the victims of sexual abuse by priests, at his first meeting with victims since his election.

Many survivors of abuse by priests are angry at what they see as the Vatican's failure to punish senior officials who have been accused of covering up scandals.

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