Post date: Dec 27, 2012 7:59:28 PM
An Italian parish priest of a small seaside village in northern Italy sparks outrage after he posts on church message board an article blaming women's behaviour for the violence against them.
SAN TERENZO, ITALY (TELE LIGURIA SUD) - An Italian priest, who provoked outrage after writing an article that said women were partly to blame for encouraging domestic violence by failing to clean their houses and cook properly and for wearing tight and provocative clothing, said on Thursday (December 27) that he had been taken aback by the response.
"After everything that's happened, which has certainly been well beyond what I intended or expected, I think there's need for calm, rest and silence to respond with the serenity and harmony required to carry on," Piero Corsi told local television station, Tele Liguria Sud on Thursday.Italian media reported that parish priest Piero Corsi posted the article to the bulletin board of his church in the northern village of San Terenzo di Lerici, which said women should engage in "healthy self criticism" over the issue of femicide, or men murdering women.
Domestic violence against women is a serious problem in Italy although a report by aUnited Nations mission in June said it was "largely invisible and underreported".
The article, posted on a website by a conservative Catholic named Bruno Volpe, attacked pornography and erotic television advertising but said women shared the blame for "provoking the worst instincts, which then turn into violence and sexual abuse".
"Let's ask ourselves. Is it possible that men have all gone mad at one stroke? We don't think so," said the text, which was filmed posted on the message board of the church by a local television station, Tele Liguria Sud, and reproduced in several newspapers.
"The core of the problem is in the fact that women are more and more provocative, they yield to arrogance, they believe they can do everything themselves and they end up exacerbating tensions," it said.
"How often do we see girls and even mature women walking on the streets in provocative and tight clothing?"
"Babies left to themselves, dirty houses, cold meals and fast food at home, soiled clothes. So if a family ends up in a mess and turns into crime (a form of violence which should be condemned and punished firmly) often the responsibility is shared," it said.
The mayor of Lerici, Marco Caluri, said on Thursday (December 27) the article was "astonishing and deeply offensive" and the bishop of La Spezia ordered it to be taken down, saying it contained "unacceptable opinions which are against the common position of the church".
"As soon as I heard the news I have given orders that that article be immediately removed from the message board" the bishop, Luigi Ernesto Palletti told Tele Liguria Sud when interviewed on Wednesday (December 26).
"In the press release I issued I also emphasised that under no circumstances can whatever despicable instance of violence against women be put in correlation with whatever other motivation. I take this occasion to be more and more aware of this unacceptable phenomenon to try and avoid that large scale massacre that we have seen, this year as well, happening to women" he added.
A third of women in Italy had reported being victim of serious domestic violence, a UN report citing data from Italian statistics agency ISTAT said.
It said that as many as 127 women had been murdered by men in 2010, often as a result of "honour, men's unemployment and jealousy by the perpetrator".
Corsi denied reports that he intended to resign as priest and, in an interview with Tele Liguria Sud on Thursday (December 27), he said he would be carrying on with his work.