Legalization of sexual relations between children “aberrant” says Peruvian bishop

Lima, Peru, Jun 26, 2007 / 09:13 am

The secretary general of the Bishops’ Conference of Peru, Bishop Juan Jose Larraneta, called a new law approved by the country’s congress that would lower the age for sexual consent to 14 “unacceptable and aberrant.”  Critics are saying the new law will only make the problem of sexual abuse of minors worse.

“The law approved by congress is simply aberrant, denigrating and humiliating,” Bishop Larraneta said on a local radio station.

“The law opens an extremely dangerous door to the abuse of minors, because if a person gives a young girl money, then he can have sex with her because she is going to say yes,” the bishop explained.

He warned the law would lead to “consensual rape.”  “I find it inexplicable,” he said.

Bishop Larraneta also criticized the logic behind the law, which was drafted and approved by feminist organizations in the country, who argue that young girls are already sexually active and that therefore the law would do nothing more than acknowledge a situation that already exists.

“With this logic,” he said, “let’s legalize corruption, robbery and child prostitution.”  There are some things that just “should not occur” because they are “evil,” the bishop continued, “and we must fight to eradicate them.”  He said he hoped Peruvian President Alan Garcia would veto the law.