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Archbishop Calls Children "Spontaneously Homosexual" By Kenneth Harvey
Brazilian archbishop Dadeus Grings came under fire Wednesday for saying children are "spontaneously homosexual" and society at large is pedophilic, after allegedly making the comments to a reporter after a press conference.
"We know that the adolescent is spontaneously homosexual," Grings said. "Boys play with boys, girls play with girls. If there is no proper guidance, this sticks. The question is — how are we going to educate our children to use a sexuality that is human and suitable?"
Grings is the archbishop of the Porto Alegre diocese, one of the largest in Brazil, and serves as the chancellor of the Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul.
Grings told O Globo, a Brazilian newspaper, that society's woes are reflected in the Roman Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal.
"Society today is [pedophilic], that is the problem. So, people easily fall into it. And the fact it is denounced is a good sign," he said in the newspaper, according to the Associated Press.
Grings denounced the abuse within the church but said internal punishment of guilty priests would suffice, noting police should not be involved.
Regarding gay rights, Grings also said, "When we begin to say they have rights, rights to demonstrate publicly, pretty soon, we'll find the rights of pedophiles."
The spokesman for the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops would not confirm or elaborate on the statements.
Last year Grings told a magazine, "More Catholics than Jews died in the Holocaust, but this isn't known because the Jews control the world's media."