A leading cardinal has said he is “surprised” by Archbishop Diarmuid
Martin’s “mistake” in interpreting controversial views on paedophilia. Archbishop of Durban, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier came under fire for comments he made on BBC where he said that “from my experience, paedophilia is actually an illness.
“It’s not a criminal condition, it's an illness,” he had said.
The cardinal clarified the situation the following day insisting “I apologise sincerely and unreservedly to all who were offended by the botched interview, and especially to those who have been abused and need every help and support that the Church can give,” Cardinal Napier said in a statement.
“Child sexual abuse is a heinous crime among other things because of the damage it does to the child. In that concern I include the abused who has become an abuser,” he said in his statement of clarification.
Archbishop Martin, asked by a reporter for his view before Cardinal Napier’s clarification said the sexual abuse of a child is “very clearly a crime” in civil and church law and there can be no going back on that.
In response, Cardinal Napier tweeted late last week to say: “I’m surprised [at Archbishop] Martin making [the] same mistake as [the] media. I said paedophilia is [an] illness, sexual abuse of children is a crime!”
Cardinal Napier’s rebuttal came in a tweet to Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins, who had sent a message to the cardinal via the social networking site to inform him of Archbishop Martin’s comments.
The South African prelate has also questioned whether someone with this psychological defect deserved to be automatically punished.
However, Dr Martin also criticised this view, saying the fact that someone who has abused a child might have a psychological illness did not exempt them from the law.
“No one has the right to harm a child. And no one can excuse themselves from that,” Archbishop Martin said.
The Archbishop’s comments came after a Mass in thanksgiving for the election of Pope Francis at Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral on March 16.