Pedophilia a Worldwide Issue, Not a Priest Problem

Pedophilia a Worldwide Issue, Not a Priest Problem

Founder of Protection Agency Laments Media Lobbies
ROME, JULY 29, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The founder of a children's protection organization laments that pedophilia only makes the news when it is linked to priests, which misses the point that it is a worldwide problem.

Father Fortunato Di Noto of the Meter association noted this deficiency in an interview with H2Onews.

Pedophilia is not just a crime but also a money machine, he explained, with an annual yield of €13 billion ($17 billion) and a victim toll of 200,000 abused children, increasingly even babies and toddlers.

And yet, Father Di Noto lamented, much of the press is scandalized only by pedophile priests and not by this phenomenon of enormous proportions.

"The most striking thing is that while we have talked about pedophilia in the clergy, the global phenomenon of pedophilia has not been discussed," he noted. "And the global phenomenon of sexual abuse is before the eyes of all.

"What impresses me, and what in essence makes the difference, is that the newspapers, probably influenced much by communication, lobbyists, have spoken more of this than of the gravity of pedophilia itself, more than the seriousness of sexual exploitation of children, the seriousness of the sex tourism of children, the gravity of selling children and of the rape of children.

"This is a blatant and visible demonstration of how certain press, moved by certain types of lobbying mentalities, sometimes communicate false, unverifiable, or exploitive information."

The founder of Meter added that the growth of pedophilia on social networks is another element that calls for greater parent responsibility and attention.

"The question is," he said, "why are there 180,000 children in Italy under the age of 13 who are enrolled on Facebook without authorization? And this means that there are 180,000 families who do not monitor the actions of these children."