The former papal nuncio to the United States has declared that the upcoming Vatican summit on clerical sex abuse seems doomed to failure because of an unwillingness to address the root causes of the crisis, notably the extensive homosexual network in the Church.

“Why does the word ‘homosexuality’ never appear in recent official documents of the Holy See?” asked Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò in a recent symposium. “This is by no means to suggest that most of those with a homosexual inclination are abusers, but the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of abuse has been inflicted on post-pubescent boys by homosexual clerics.”

“It is mere hypocrisy to condemn the abuse and claim to sympathize with the victims without facing up to this fact honestly. A spiritual revitalization of the clergy is necessary, but it will be ultimately ineffectual if it does not address this problem,” the archbishop stated.

In his statement, Viganò also wondered aloud why Pope Francis continues to elevate “notorious” homosexuals to positions of influence if he really intends to tackle the problem.

“Why does Pope Francis keep and even call as his close collaborators people who are notorious homosexuals?” Viganò said. “Why has he refused to answer legitimate and sincere questions about these appointments? In doing so he has lost credibility on his real will to reform the Curia and fight the corruption.”

A new book on the extensive homosexual presence in the Vatican is due for release on February 21, the first day of the Vatican meeting on clerical sex abuse.

In his explosive 576-page exposé, titled In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy, French journalist Frédéric Martel — who is openly gay and an LGBT activist — accuses the Catholic Church of hypocrisy for opposing gay marriage and adoption when so many of its own clerics are active homosexuals.

Martel asserts that 80 percent of Vatican clergy and prelates are gay, many of them actively so, a figure he claims to have arrived at after four years of research in which he interviewed more than 1500 experts and Church insiders — including 41 cardinals — in 30 different countries.

In his statement, Archbishop Viganò also asked why the Vatican summit will deal exclusively with the abuse of minors.

“These crimes are indeed the most horrific, but the crises in the United States and Chile that have largely precipitated the upcoming summit have to do with abuses committed against young adults, including seminarians, not only against minors,” Viganò said. “Almost nothing has been said about sexual misconduct with adults, which is itself a grave abuse of pastoral authority, whether or not the relationship was ‘consensual.’”

Recent reports suggest that clerical sex abuse over the last decades has been overwhelmingly homosexual in nature, with at least three out of four victims being male.

Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter