[quote]Pope Francis has been quoted as saying that reliable data indicates that "about 2%" of clergy in the Catholic Church are paedophiles.
The Pope said that abuse of children was like "leprosy" infecting the Church, according to the Italian La Repubblica newspaper.
He vowed to "confront it with the severity it demands".
But a Vatican spokesman said the quotes in the newspaper did not correspond to Pope Francis's exact words.
The BBC's David Willey in Rome says there is often a studied ambiguity in Pope Francis' off-the-cuff statements.
He wants to show a more compassionate attitude towards Church teaching than his predecessors, but this can sometimes cause consternation among his media advisers, our correspondent adds.
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Pope Frankie doin it well
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Well, no shit. Their God forbids them from doing what's natural, so of course blue balls is gonna turn them to the [i]un[/i]natural. That's the problem with religion: it cuts out all the things that make life worth living under the guise of moral and spiritual enlightenment. "God" wants us to be happy, so why doesn't he want people to get drunk, or sleep with people, or eat pork?
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Lonepaul intensifies.
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Church is a funny word to describe the chippy
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It'd be interesting to see them end the celibacy rules. Elders of the church, as described in the Bible, are required to be married and have kids so they can fully understand the relationship that God shares with the church, and the church with its followers, so it always seemed odd for priests to be celibate.
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That doesn't matter. Child torture is literally institutionalised in the Church. That 2% is protected.
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2% of all clergy is actually a [i]lot[/i] of paedophiles.
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Lonepaul detected
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More like 100%
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That's disturbingly high.
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That's kind of scary. Why are you scaring me Progo?
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That's a high number, more than I expected.
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