AUSTRALIA/ROME
Telegraph (UK)
By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney, and Nick Squires in Rome
Priests’ vows of celibacy may have led to paedophilia, the Roman Catholic Church in Australia has said, in what is believed to be the first such admission by Catholic officials worldwide.
A group advising the Australian Church on how to deal with thousands of cases of child sex abuse said celibacy may be psychologically damaging for some priests.
“Obligatory celibacy may also have contributed to abuse in some circumstances,” said a 44-page report from the group, called the Truth, Justice and Healing Council. The group, which is supervised by some of Australia’s senior archbishops, does not necessarily reflect the views of all the clergy.
Its conclusions were quickly dismissed by the Vatican. “We certainly don’t take the issue lightly, but are these claims [by the Healing Council] based on a serious, long-term psychological study?” a senior Vatican source said. “We know that most sexual abuse of children takes place within the family, and family members are by their nature not celibate — they could be fathers or uncles,” he argued.
The Healing Council report criticised the “closed environments” of some religious orders and dioceses.
“Church institutions and their leaders, over many decades, seemed to turn a blind eye, either instinctively or deliberately, to the abuse happening within their diocese or religious order, protecting the institution rather than caring for the child,” it said.
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