In Greece, the reactions are strong and the condemnations numerous, after the remarks of a senior religious dignitary on the rape, Friday September 2.
With our correspondent in Athens, Joel Bronner
During a televised debate on abortion on Friday, an Orthodox bishop said, among other things, that ” a woman is not raped unless she wants to “.
Statements which revolted the entire political class and which the Greek clergy also hastened to condemn, specifying that such remarks ” tarnish » the image of the Orthodox Church.
” Unthinkable and reprehensible “. Here is the lapidary summary of the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs GreekNiki Kerameos, about the statements of the bishop, held on the private television channel SKAI.
For the Conservative minister, these allegations “ brutally shock society and are not in line with the position of the Church, which supports women victims of abuse and rape “.
A little earlier, in front of the camera, Bishop Chrysostomos of Dodoni, with a long white beard and traditional black outfit, had indeed accumulated sweeping declarations and untruths. He also claimed that a woman “ can’t get pregnant “, following a rape.
In reaction, the leftist opposition showed no more tenderness than the government. The Pasok-Kinal mentioned a « return to the Middle Ages ”, where Syriza sees in these remarks the reflection of the “ obscurantist times where witches were hunted.
In Greece, the ultra-majority Orthodox religion is represented by an exclusively male and very conservative clergy. Its official positions are thus opposed to homosexual relations, sexual relations before marriage or even abortion.