'Pedophilia Not a Crime', Says South African Catholic Cardinal

One of the world's most polarizing moral barometers, sometimes the Catholic Church issues decrees that some might politely deem controversial - but it's likely even papal diehards didn't see this coming: "Pedophilia is not a crime." At least, it isn't according to one South African Cardinal with the Catholic Church. 

In a recent interview with the BBC, South African Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier said he didn't think pedophilia was actually a crime, and instead suggested it was an illness that needed to be treated, according to Yahoo News.

"From my experience, pedophilia is actually an illness. It's not a criminal condition, it's an illness," Napier said.

Napier said he came to this understanding because he's known at least two priests that were sexually abused as children and later became pedophiles. 

"Now don't tell me that those people are criminally responsible like somebody who chooses to do something like that. I don't think you can really take the position and say that person deserves to be punished. He was himself damaged."

It's no secret the Catholic Church's reputation has been significantly marred worldwide in recent decades by the proliferation of child sex abuse within the church, and cries of public outrage alleging coverups by high-ranking officials in the clergy.

One of the 115 cardinals to vote for Pope Francis recently at the Vatican, Napier issued a quick apology after his incendiary statements sparked the ire of child sex abuse victims' rights groups accusing him of insensitivity. 

"I apologize sincerely and unreservedly to all who were offended by the botched interview, and especially to those who have been abused and need every help and support that the Church can give," Napier said through a statement, according to The Christian Science Monitor.

He said he's not quite sure why people are so upset from his comments, but claimed people probably began misconstruing what he was saying around his statements about knowing priests abused as children who became pedophiles.

"That's when the wheels came off," Napier said. "I now stand accused of saying that pedophilia is a mental condition or disorder and not a crime."

He concluded: "Child sexual abuse is a heinous crime among other things because of the damage it does to the child. In that concern I include the abused who has become an abuser."

Since 1950, there have been almost 17,000 recorded victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within the Catholic Church in the U.S., according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection. There is no national database of child sex abuse victims.

The Catholic Church spent over $2.5 billion paying for victims' settlements, therapy, lawyer fees, and "costs to care for priests pulled out of ministry" in just a seven year time span, from 2004 to 2011, according to USA Today.