Church communications officer apologizes for porn site faux pas

MANILA, Philippines – A communications officer of the Catholic Church on Monday apologized after an advisory on the installation of new Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle that was posted online contained a link to a pornographic site featuring transvestites.

Peachy Yamsuan, head of the Archdiocese of Manila’s office of communications, said she committed an “honest mistake” when the link posted for the live-streaming of Tagle’s installation, which was mentioned in an advisory posted on the archdiocese website, led to a porn site.

Instead of the correct web address www.tvmaria.net, the online advisory said the live-streaming could be watched on www.tvmaria.com, a porn site featuring transvestites.

“Please be informed that I was the one who committed the mistake of putting in our website story the wrong TV Maria website for live streaming and I’m sorry for the confusion it has caused,” Yamsuan said.

She said she learned about her mistake after priests complained that the link led to a porn site. Yamsuan said they tried to correct the mistake as early as Sunday night but the mistake had already been noticed by bloggers and it went viral on social networking sites.

Yamsuan expressed regret that the mistake might have clouded Tagle’s installation, which proceeded Monday morning.