Catholic World News News Feature
Spanish official rips bishop's statements on sexual abuse December 28, 2007
A Spanish bishop has come under heavy criticism for saying that some adolescents who are classified as pedophilia victims might actually be willing participants in sexual activity.
The comments by Bishop Bernardo Alvarez of Tenerife were condemned as "barbaric" by Arturo Canalda, the children's rights advocate for the city of Madrid.
Canalda said that the bishop's statement could be used as a defense of pedophiles. He added that the bishop's claim that some young children fully consent to sexual activity is an argument that echoes propaganda put out by "those who think pedophilia is a good thing." That argument is "perverse," the city official said, because children under the age of 14-- the legal age of consent in Spain-- cannot possibly give full consent.
A spokesman for the Tenerife diocese emphasized that Bishop Alvarez had not intended to justify pedophilia, but only to place the issue in proper context.
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