One of the most senior German figures in the Catholic Church has controversially denied that sexual abuse was a problem in the Catholic Church, saying that the problem was caused by gay men rather than catholic priests.
Cardinal Walter Brandmüller played down widespread evidence of sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church in an interview with news agency DPA on Friday.
Bradmüller said that public debate on the sexual abuse «forgets or silences the fact that 80 percent of the cases of sexual assault in the church affected male youths not children». He added that it was «statistically proven» that there is a connection between homosexuality and sexual abuse.
In an impassioned defence of the Church’s record, Brandmüller claimed that “only a vanishingly small number” of priests has perpetrated abuse, thelocal.de reports.
