Madrid, Spain, Apr 22, 2010 / 15:55 pm
European parliamentarian Rocco Buttiglione recently called on Catholics to strongly defend Pope Benedict XVI from media criticism. He noted that pedophilia among priests is “much lower than it is in any other professional sector,” and accused the media of “trying to scare families into thinking that it is dangerous for their children to be Catholic.”
During the 5th Conference of Catholics and Public Life, the Italian politician said the data from a study by the University of New York, which includes accusations against Catholic priests from the last 50 years in the U.S., shows that out of 4,392 accusations, “958 were cases of pedophilia, which led to 54 guilty verdicts.”
“In 50 years this equals one guilty verdict for pedophilia per year out of 109,000 Catholic priests in the United States. That is, one guilty verdict for every 2,000 priests.”
Consequently, he concluded, according to this study, the incidence of pedophilia “is much lower than it is in any other professional sector."