An American Cardinal has claimed that “radical feminism” is to blame for a host of issues within the Catholic Church and blamed feminists for creating paedophiles, or sexually confused “disordered men” who entered the priesthood and sexually abused children.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, who was last year demoted by Pope Francis from the head of the Vatican’s highest court to a role with little responsibility, has claimed that the “radical feminism which has assaulted the Church and society since the 1960s has left men very marginalised”.

The Cardinal is known for his vehement opposition of greater acceptance of gay people and divorcees within the Church, but in his interview with the site ‘The New Emangelization’, he voiced his opposition to the radical feminist movement and its strong influence which has led the Church to “constantly address women’s issues at the expense of addressing critical issues important men,” including “the emphasis on the particular gifts that God gives to men for the good of the whole society”.

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He argues that the case for women’s rights has led to men growing up without proper identities, which has detrimental effect in later life. He calls these men “poorly formed,” and blames this for their addictions “to pornography, sexual promiscuity, alcohol, drugs, and a whole gamut of addictions”.

The Cardinal believes that a “fluffy, superficial kind of catechetical approach to the question of human sexuality and the nature of the marital relationship” over the years has had an equally damning effect on men, where men were not taught they are made in the image of God.

The confusion that radical feminism caused for men in terms of their sexual identity also led to paedophiles becoming priests.