An Australian Catholic Church body has sensationally conceded in a report that obligatory celibacy may be linked to priests abusing children.
The Truth, Justice and Healing Council which deals with the legacy of children’s sexual abuse, added that some church institutions and their leaders turned a blind eye to what was going on, while suggesting that clergy should be given “psycho-sexual” training.
The Catholic Church has come under increasing pressure to reconsider the tradition of clerical celibacy, which although practiced for hundreds of years, is not an unchangeable part of the Church’s rules.