Fact Check: Did a Catholic Archbishop Defend Pedophilia? No.

The website POTUS WDC posted a false story with the bogus headline, “Catholic Archbishop Says Pedophilia Is ‘Spiritual Encounter With God.’”

One of the highest-ranking officials in the Catholic Church says s,e,x,u,a,l.l.y [sic] abused children can experience “a spiritual encounter with God through the priest” while being molested.

The quote, which POTUS WDC frankensteined into utter fiction, comes from a press release by the Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart last year: “Confession in the Catholic Church is a spiritual encounter with God through the priest.”

The archbishop gained attention for his defense of the confidentiality of confession in the Catholic Church amid calls for priests to report certain confessions to the authorities. His short press release reads:

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