During a televised debate on abortion, Orthodox Bishop Chrysostomos of Dodoni said a woman ‘cannot get pregnant’ as a result of rapeA senior Greek cleric sparked outcry on Friday 2 September after saying on national television that rape involves the woman’s consent and does not result in pregnancy. “A woman is not raped unless she wants to,” Bishop Chrysostomos of Dodoni said. on the TV channel, during a debate on abortion. A woman ‘cannot get pregnant’ as a result of rape, and her ‘participation’ is needed to conceive a child, he added. Bishop Chrysostomos also called abortion a ‘crime’ Read also The abortion debate revived in Denmark His statements were quickly condemned by the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs Niki Kerameus, to whom he reports, who described them as “unthinkable and reprehensible”. Such remarks “brutally shock society and are not in line with the position of the Church, which supports women victims of abuse and rape”, she said. The Church of Greece, guardian of the Orthodox faith dominant in the country according to the Constitution, is exclusively male and fiercely conservative. She opposes same-sex relationships, premarital sex and abortion, and has also resisted efforts to limit liturgies and communion during the coronavirus pandemic. SEE ALSO – “Only a yes is a yes”: Spain toughens its laws against rape