Pope Francis Sunday condemned child sex abuse as a “leprosy” in the Church and cited his aides as saying that “the level of paedophilia in the Church is at two per cent.”
“That two per cent includes priests and even bishops and cardinals,” the pope was quoted as saying.
He also promised “solutions” to the issue of priestly celibacy in an interview yesterday that raised the possibility that the Catholic Church could eventually lift a ban on married priests, but this was quickly refuted by the Vatican.
Meanwhile, the Pope yesterday appealed for peace in Gaza during his weekly Angelus prayer, calling for “concrete gestures to build peace” as the deadly six-day offensive escalated.
The Pope stated this in an interview with Italy’s La Repubblica daily.
On whether priests might one day be allowed to marry, Francis pointed out that celibacy was instituted “900 years after Our Lord’s death” and that clerics can marry in some Eastern Churches under Vatican tutelage.
“There definitely is a problem but it is not a major one. This needs time but there are solutions and I will find them,” Francis said, without giving further details.
But Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi said the quotations in the newspaper on the existence of paedophile cardinals and the possible reform of priestly celibacy did not correspond to what the Pope actually said.
“This is not at all an interview in the normal sense of the word,” he said, accusing the newspaper of “manipulating ingenuous readers.”
The interview was the third in a series with the 90-year-old founder of the La Repubblica daily, Eugenio Scalfari, a famous journalist and known atheist.
In an address to thousands of pilgrims on St Peter’s Square, Francis spoke of the “tragic events of the last few days.”
Francis visited the Middle East in May and held a joint prayer in the Vatican with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in June.
“I urge all interested parties and all in local and international political office not to spare in prayer and efforts to cease all hostilities,” Francis said.
Referring to the June 8 joint prayer, he said: “Some people might think that such a meeting was in vain. But this is not the case because prayer helps us not to be conquered by evil or resign ourselves to violence and hatred.”
As world powers prepared to meet in Vienna over the escalating conflict, the Palestinian death toll from Israel’s punishing air campaign hit 165 following the bloodiest day yet, which left 56 people dead.
So far, no Israelis have been killed, although militants in Gaza have pounded the south and centre of the country with more than 630 rockets since the fighting began on July 8, in the biggest Israel-Hamas confrontation since 2012.
