Head of Belgium's Catholic church sparks fury after he brands gays a 'travesty of nature who deserve Aids'
By IAN SPARKS
Last updated at 2:23 PM on 3rd November 2010
Last updated at 2:23 PM on 3rd November 2010
The head of Belgium's Catholic church has sparked fury after he claimed the Aids epidemic was 'intrinsic justice' for homosexuality.
Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard also argued that retired Catholic priests suspected of paedophilia should be spared criminal punishment.
Archbishop Leonard's own spokesman has now quit in protest at his former employer's comments, which come as the church in Belgium reels in the face of allegations of decades of sexual abuse of more than 450 children by priests.
'Monsignor Leonard at times acts like a motorist driving on the wrong side of a motorway who thinks all the other motorists are wrong,' said his former spokesman Juergen Mettepennigen.
'I neither wish nor want to continue working as his spokesman.'
Writing in a new book of religious thinking, Archbishop Leonard said of homosexuality and HIV: 'When you mistreat the environment it ends up mistreating us in turn.
'And when you mistreat human love, perhaps it winds up taking vengeance.
'I'm saying that sometimes there are consequences linked to our actions, and that this epidemic is a sort of intrinsic justice.'
And speaking on Belgian television last week, the head of Belgium's Catholic church said priests suspected of sexually abusing children should be spared judicial redress.
'Priests who abused children in their care must be made aware of what they did but if they're no longer working, if they have no responsibilities, I'm not sure that exercising a sort of vengeance that will have no concrete result is humane,' he claimed.
A petition has now been launched to have him sacked as Chancellor of the Catholic University of Louvain while Catholic officials have distanced themselves from his remarks.
I'm out of here: The Archbishop's former spokesman, Jurgen Mettepenningen, speaks during a press conference yesterday
'These remarks are a personal point of view and not that of the church,' said Bishop of Antwerp Johan Bonny.
Gay rights lawyer Jean-Marie De Meester has also said he has launched legal action against the archbishop for homophobia.
'I believe the archbishop is violating anti-discrimination law and committing slander," Mr De Meester explained.
Archbishop Leonard's controversial remarks come weeks after Pope Benedict met with victims of child abuse by the clergy and expressed his sorrow for the crimes.
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