Sarkozy under fire over paedophile remark

PARIS (Reuters) - French right-wing presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy faced criticism from his rivals and a bishop on Saturday for saying people could be born paedophiles.

Sarkozy, who is comfortably leading opinion polls ahead of the April and May election, told the latest edition of the magazine Philosophie that he was inclined "to think that one can be born a paedophile".

"When Sarkozy goes as far as saying that a baby can be born condemned to perversity ... what kind of society do we live in?" centrist candidate Francois Bayrou said in an interview with France 3 television.

Earlier on Saturday, the Archbishop of Paris, Andre Vingt-Trois, also questioned Sarkozy's comments.

"What seems the most serious to me, is the idea that we cannot change the course of our destiny," he said on RTL radio.

Sarkozy's main rival in the election race, Socialist Segolene Royal has called the comments "outrageous".

Sarkozy has widened his lead over Royal with two polls on Saturday saying he would beat her with 54 percent to her 46 in the second round of voting on May 6. Bayrou is lying in third place.