Polish Archbishop Knows What Causes Pedophile Priests: Divorce, Porn, And Those Slutty Abused Kids

Right on the heels of suspending the "Bling Bishop," New Pope has another misbehaving European prelate on his hands: Archbishop Jozef Michalik, the head of the Polish Episcopate, who kind of made everybody in Poland groan and slap their foreheads (we hope?) for suggesting thatchildren abused by priests share some of the blame for getting themselves raped:

A child from a troubled family, Michalik told reporters, "seeks closeness with others and may get lost and may get the other person involved, too."

Yes. If these troubled children would just stop being so darned seductive and pouty and vulnerable and most importantly alone, then adult men would not be tempted to do sexual predation on them. That's just basic psychology, straight from the gospel of personal pedophile responsibility.

Michalik almost immediately apologized and said that he'd been misunderstood, because the words that came out of his mouth were obviously not what he actually meant. He insisted that he hadn't meant children are responsible for getting abused, not at all, and could you all please stop quoting the actual words he said, please?

For some reason, though, Polish Catholics aren't letting it go, possibly because Polish media also "pointed out that Michalik had supported a parish priest convicted in 2004 of child sex abuse[.]" Whoops.

Poland's church has been hit with a wave of accusations of sexual abuse by priests, despite the Vatican's not-exactly-comprehensive efforts to crack down on clerical sexual abuse after the American church's scandals broke in the 1990s. As in the U.S., Polish bishops have been accused of covering up for abusive priests instead of reporting them to civil authorities. And while Polish bishops now talk of a "zero tolerance" approach to sexual abuse, the official stance is not exactly draconian:

Poland's Episcopate has issued guidelines for the church's punishment of priests and support for the victims. But it sees no need to report priests to state investigators and says that the financial compensation rests with the wrongdoer, not with the church. That approach may soon be tested by a man who is readying Poland's first sex abuse lawsuit against the church.

But don't worry, folks, Archbishop Michalik has taken a look at all the evidence, and he's ready to put the blame squarely on those responsible for abuse: he recently said that

the roots of pedophilia lay in pornography and divorce, both of which are "painful and long-lasting wounds."

Should the Archbishop eventually be removed, we think he might have a pretty good shot at a career in the Texas legislature.

[ USA Today ]