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WARSAW, Poland (AP) - A top official in Poland's Catholic Church has apologized for a comment he made about pedophilia by priests, but said he did not mean to suggest that child victims were partially responsible.
At a hastily called news conference Tuesday, Archbishop Jozef Michalik, the head of the Conference of the Episcopate, said: "I am sorry for this misunderstanding."
Earlier in the day, Michalik had made an off-the-cuff comment to reporters about recent cases of pedophilia by Polish priests before a conference that Poland's Episcopate is holding about such issues.
He said a child from a troubled family "seeks closeness with others and may get lost and may get the other person involved, too."
At the news conference Michalik said sexual mistreatment of such children is the responsibility of the adults involved.
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