According to the BBC, Pope Francis has been quoted as saying that reliable data indicates that "about 2%" of clergy in the Catholic Church are pedophiles.
Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi cautions against interpreting any quotations of Pope Francis as authentic. The quote - accurate or not- seemed to have caused a bit of controversy, although I can't understand why.
From my limited research online, the general consensus appears to be that pedophiles make up between 1% and 5% of the general population. Why should it be surprising that the percentage among Catholic clergy is pretty much the same as in the general population?
Perhaps we should be addressing the real issue. An accurate definition of pedophile would be:
A person 16 years of age or older who is primarily or exclusively sexually attracted to children who have not begun puberty (girls 10 years old or less, and boys 11 year old or less, on average).The prepubescent child must be at least five years younger than the person in the case of adolescent pedophiles before the attraction can be diagnosed as pedophilia.
The majority of sex abuse cases in the Catholic Church did not involved pedophiles, but ephebophiles - adult, homosexuals abusing teen-age boys.
The anti- Catholic media like to portray this as pedophilia for two reasons. 1) It discredits the Catholic Church. 2) Using the incorrect term, pedophile rather than ephebophile, protects adult homosexuals, who have protected status among liberals.
Rather than discuss the issue logically, the media prefer to fan the flames by appealing to the emotions. This tactic isn't new, of course; sadly, it's business as usual.
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