Outrage After Italian Priest Backs Article Suggesting Women Partly To Blame For Domestic Violence, Even Own Murders

ROME — An Italian priest has sparked outrage after putting up an article that said women were partly to blame for domestic violence, their own murders, and that they were neglectful of their homemaking duties.

Italian media first reported that parish priest Piero Corsi pinned an article containing the controversial text to the bulletin board of his church in the northern village of San Terenzo di Lerici.

The said article claimed that women should engage in “healthy self criticism” over their role in Femicide — the crime ij which men specifically murder women, Reuters reports.

Several Italian newspapers re-published the article which also targeted pornography and erotic television advertising, and also women were to blame for “provoking the worst instincts, which then turn into violence and sexual abuse.”

The article itself was written by a conservative Catholic, Bruno Volpe, and uploaded to a website. It read (in part):

“Let’s ask ourselves. Is it possible that men have all gone mad at one stroke? We don’t think so,” said the text, according to News.MSN.

The article continued:

“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. 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.”

Reaction to the article has been swift. Today, the mayor of Lerici, Marco Caluri, said the article was “astonishing and deeply offensive.” The Bishop of La Spezia ordered its removal, saying it contained “unacceptable opinions which are against the common position of the church,” said Reuters.

Maria Gabriella Carnieri Moscatelli, the head of “Telefono Rosa” — an organization that helps the victims of violence — said an apology from Corsi was not enough.

Ms. Moscatelli told SkyTG24 Television:

“I thank the bishop who had the paper taken down but I’m still not satisfied because I think someone needs to talk to this person and understand why he has these attitudes.I think he needs to make a deeper examination of his conscience that goes beyond apologies.”

A UN report, citing data from Italian statistics agency ISTAT, reports that a third of women in Italy have been victims of domestic violence. The report found that 127 women were murdered by men in 2010 often as consequence of “honor, men’s unemployment and jealousy by the perpetrator.”

According to Reuters, Corsi he has denied reports that he intends to resign as priest. In an interview with Oggi, he said:

“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.”