Though if it were right I'm not sure it'd be much of an excuse. Just because - to take a different example - some people can't distinguish in their heads between Americans and the actions of the American government, or between Jews and the actions of the Israeli government, doesn't absolve those people from the responsibility for the bigoted views that result from that.

Anyway, to get back to the pedophilia - homosexuality issue, it doesn't make much sense to suppose he can't distinguish between the two. But there certainly is a fundamental disconnect between someone like Santorum and someone like, well, me for one on this issue: for him, the concept of a sexual act involving two male persons is so problematic that his very first and most fundamental category for sexual acts is that: the genders of the people involved. Priests sexually abusing young boys, by that logic, is first and foremost a sexual act involving two men, and problematic for that reason; the abuse of power, violation of trust and heavy damage to the child's psyche comes only after that.

For someone like that, the scientific view that genders are of secondary importance in pedophilia and that such a priest's "normal" (= non-pedophiliac) sexual urges (if he has any) in most cases are still oriented to women, makes no sense. That definitely does not mean they think all homosexuals are pedophiles; it does mean they think all (male) pedophiles who abuse boys are homosexuals.

I haven't seen the exact quote Roland is referring to, but I strongly suspect you'll find that what Santorum said - or intended, at least - was something in that vein. Not that priests abusing boys wasn't rape or wasn't horrible, but that he considered those priests to be homosexuals, while the gay community (obviously) does not. Of course the latter has science on its side (and myself, to avoid misunderstandings), but then Santorum is the kind of guy who actually likes being on the other side from science, one would suspect.