Catholic bishops around the world need to combat the homosexual agenda in the Church, two cardinals said in an open letter addressed to the presidents of the world’s conferences of bishops.

Cardinal Walter Brandmüller and Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke wrote in a Feb. 19 letter that the “horrible crime” of clerical sexual abuse of minors is “only part of a much greater crisis” that must be addressed before real change can occur.

“The plague of the homosexual agenda has been spread within the Church,” said the two cardinals, “promoted by organized networks and protected by a climate of complicity and a conspiracy of silence.”