Speaking to Italian current affairs TV programme, The Way The Wind Is Blowing, Father Don Gino Flaim appeared to ‘justify’ paedophilia.
The 75-year-old priest said: “I can understand paedophilia. Homosexuality, I don’t know, I think it’s a sickness.”
He shockingly continued: “I have worked a lot with schools and I know children.
“Unfortunately, there are children who seek out affection because they do not receive it at home.
“And maybe if they come across some priest, well maybe he will yield (to temptation). I understand this.
“It doesn’t surprise me that these type of cases exist because the Church is a community of sinners”.
Asked if he was suggesting that some children were at fault, he replied: “For the large part, yes”. He said he was not condoning the sexual abuse of minors.
The Italian priest has since been suspended from his parish in the northern Italian town of Trento.
Archbishop of Trent, Luigi Bressan, said: “The Church in Trent fully disassociates itself from the statements made by one of our elderly diocesan priests to the TV channel, La 7.
“Interviewed by the TV reporter in an entirely casual context, he expressed sentiments which in no way represent either the position of the archdiocese of Trento or the feelings of the entirely ecclesiastical community.”
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