• Little8Lost@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      2 days ago

      I dont know about the pope but i am a fan of:
      If they have not wronged children: therapy
      If they did: prison & therapy

      • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        2 days ago

        You can’t cure it with therapy, and the Catholic church protects and habors pedophiles. I don’t give a damn what he says. The church is a cancer and needs to be destroyed. If you support the church you support pedophiles.

        • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          edit-2
          2 days ago

          Yeah, trying to cure it with therapy has the same deleterious effects as gay conversion therapy. Because (even if we socially consider it to be one) it’s not a mental disorder in the biological sense; It’s a sexuality. You can repress it with therapy, but repressed sexuality tends to end in disaster eventually.

          I dislike the gay comparison for a variety of reasons, but it’s a very well-studied topic that gay conversion therapy simply doesn’t work. It’s abusive and only leads to self-hate or resentment. The unfortunate reality is that, for better or worse, you can’t control who you’re attracted to.

          The big issue with pedophilia is that there is no ethical way to practice it. For most other sexualities, you can be ethical about it. Being gay or straight isn’t inherently unethical, because you can get a consenting partner. But being a pedophile is inherently unethical, because any potential partner cannot consent. At best, maybe they find a young looking partner, who is old enough to consent. But even that is just delaying the inevitable, as that partner will eventually start looking older. But practicing actual pedophilia will always be unethical, because there will always be a non-consenting victim.

          Therapy is one part of treatment, sure. But it should be primarily focused on helping the pedophile come to terms with self-imposed celibacy. And even that has issues, as the church has proven time and time again.