Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier claimed that pedophilia is a psychological illness and not a "criminal condition".
Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, the Archbishop of Durban, told BBC radio that people who become paedophiles after being abused as children should be treated by doctors.
His comments come as Francis, the first pontiff to hail from Latin America, takes the helm of a Catholic Church rocked by thousands of cases of child abuse by paedophile priests…
…“I don’t think you can really take the position and say that person deserves to be punished when he was himself damaged.”Source: Catholic cardinal says the pedophilia is not a 'criminal condition'
I'm not qualified to comment on if pedophilia is a psychological illness, so I went to Wikipedia for enlightenment.
As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia, or paedophilia, is a psychiatric disorder in persons 16 years of age or older typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest toward prepubescent children (generally age 11 years or younger, though specific diagnosis criteria for the disorder extends the cut-off point for prepubescence to age 13).[1][2][3][4] An adolescent who is 16 years of age or older must be at least five years older than the prepubescent child before the attraction can be diagnosed as pedophilia
Source: Pedophilia
Since it is true the pedophilia is a psychological condition, then is the behavior also a crime? Yes. The Cardinal's assertion that it is not 'criminal behavior' is dead wrong, but then again, some of the Cardinal's friends are likely to be pedophiles.
I have no problem treating pedophiles. If believe pedophiles should get help, but I also believe in accountability. Pedophiles hurt children. They should be held accountable for their crimes and treated for their condition.
What I find most disturbing is when Bishop asserts that pedophile priests do not know the difference between right and wrong, yet they are priests. How does that make any sense?
