Posted on 03/16/2013 7:44:17 AM PDT by DogByte6RER
(Cardinal Napier, third from left)
Paedophilia is an illness NOT a crime, says cardinal just days after papal conclave
Claimed people abused as youngsters who then become paedophiles 'not criminally responsible'
Says paedophilia 'is an illness, not a criminal condition'
Says those people do not deserve to be punished because they are damaged
Pope Francis said that he wants a 'church for the poor'
A South African cardinal who helped elect Pope Francis has described paedophilia as a psychological illness and not 'a criminal condition'.
The Catholic Archbishop of Durban, Wilfrid Fox Napier, told BBC Radio 5 live that people who were abused as children and became paedophiles were not criminally responsible for their actions in the same way as somebody 'who chooses to do something like that'.
Cardinal Napier, who was among the 115 cardinals in the conclave at the Vatican that elected Pope Francis earlier this week, called paedophilia a 'psychological disorder.
And just three days into the new role, the pope and the Catholic Church are now faced with fresh child abuse controversy after the cardinal's remarks.
He said: 'What do you do with disorders? You have got to try and put them right.
'If I as a normal being choose to break the law knowing that I am breaking the law, then I think I need to be punished...
'From my experience paedophilia is actually an illness, it is not a criminal condition, it is an illness.'
The cardinal spoke of two priests he knew who were abused as children and went on to become paedophiles.
He told the BBC: 'Don't tell me that those people are criminally responsible like somebody who chooses to do something like that.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Hey, Cardinal, It's BOTH...it IS a CRIME and you have to be sick to commit it!
Wow... This is sure to help the Catholic Church.
/headshaking disbelief
Rabies is an illness.
It is not the fault of the animal who got it.
But we put that animal down.
IMO the same should be done with Pedophiles
We should point out that it is not their fault, but we should put them down so they do not pass the illness on, and they cannot harm others.
It’s the only solution that works——every time.
Pope should deliver a sermon on the topic of Matthew 18:6
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Pedophilia is following the same course as homosexuality:
Crime>illness>choice>genetic disposition>equality to heterosexuality>preferred behavior
It’s coming...pedophila is a God-given sexual orientation. They were “born that way.”
This cardinal is just a bit ahead of the shrinks in this country (i.e., the APA), who are on the verge of “normalizing” pedophelia.
we have free will....sinners choose to sin....
Where I am coming from in my call to recognize it as sin; sin has consequences. Someone molests a child, that’s sin. That particular sin has a variety of consequences. For one, there are legal repercussions. They need to be reported to the law and prosecuted. For another, they cannot be trusted around kids. There are a number of other really sucky consequences for this particular sin, including , but not exclusive to consequences in the spiritual realm. The consequences of this sin in a just and merciful society suck like crazy for the offender. And they should.
I threw in the word merciful because anything less than full justice for the perp is not merciful to the victim. I also throw that in because God is a God of redemption. He wants to redeem the offender to a position of freedom of that sin. But that redemption does not preclude the consequences of that sin.
I am also convinced, because of my clarity that this is a sin of the heart issue, that therapy will never change an offender of this type. I have no more trust for a molester who has completed secular therapy than I do for one who has not completed the therapy because secular therapy does not address the real problem.
To sum it up, my response is a swift and sure declaration of it as sin, a swift and sure enforcement of the legal consequences of such a heinous sin, and an offer of God’s redemption for the dark bondage the person has allowed in their life. Anything less is pandering to sin and makes a mockery of God. I believe the Catholic church has done less. Much less.
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