Vatican: Pope dodges blame for child abuse: the Seventies did it

Belfasttelegraph.co.uk.

In his traditional Christmas address yesterday to cardinals and officials working in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI also claimed that child pornography was increasingly considered “normal” by society.

“In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children,” the Pope said.

“It was maintained — even within the realm of Catholic theology — that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a ‘better than’ and a ‘worse than’. Nothing is good or bad in itself.”

Well, if you already believe in one fantasy world, it’s not too hard to dream up another one. Welcome to the Vatican 70s, where flairs-wearing priests in tie-dye headbands drop out for pot-fuelled sex with laid back schoolchildren.