In an outrageous statement, the Vatican has defiantly called on Roman Catholics to "do it all again", an apparent reference to the recent child sexual abuse scandal.
He said Catholics were "under attack from left-wing, namby-pamby, paedo-bashing liberals" and should see the necessity "to recognise child-abuse is important in our lives".
A series of allegations of abuse by priests has put pressure on the Church to increase its faltering top spot as the 'religion of choice' for molestation.
On Monday, a senior cardinal outraged gay rights groups worldwide by linking homosexuality with paedophilia.
Cardinal Bertolli Flora, the Vatican's secretary of state, said it was homosexuality - not clerical celibacy - which lay behind the abuse of minors. The Vatican echoed this with the "He's not wrong you know" statement.
The Vatican sought to "clarify" the remarks, saying the Church was trying to make assertions of a "psychological or medical nature" adding "technically, all the children in question said 'yes', so these allegations don't count."
