Vatican denies celibacy led to sex abuse scandal

[pepperbear]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-03-14-vatican-sex-abuse_N.htm?csp=24&RM_Exclude=Juno

The Vatican has strongly denied that its celibacy requirement is the root of the sex abuse scandal convulsing the church in Europe and has again defended Pope Benedict XVI's handling of the crisis.
An article in Sunday's editions of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano shot down suggestions that the celibate priesthood was to blame for the "deviant behavior" of a small number of clerics.

Echoing comments from top clerics all week, the newspaper noted that study after study had shown no link between celibacy and a tendency to abuse minors.

The article also defended Benedict as a "vigilant shepherd of his flock" in confronting the crisis decisively early on, in denouncing the "filth" in the priesthood and in taking charge of abuse cases himself.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Because we've haven't ever really been celibate. Smirk." - The Vatican (R)

"Fooled ya again. Neener, neener, neener." - The Vatican (R)

[malaise]

3. LOL

:rofl:

Normal human beings need sex. I wish they'd just STFU!!

[FreakinDJ]

2. Hormone Deniers

[trusty elf]

4. "a vigilant shepherd of his flock"

just like this one:

[zbdent]

5. I remember that RWers always claim it's because the Catholic Church

gets gays in as priests ... but then, you also have the RWers who believe (and trot out various "cured" people as proof) that "teh gay" can be cured through prayer.

If that were true, then you would think that the Catholic Church would be the best place for "teh gays" to go to be cured, and then you WOULDN'T have the molesting of young boys ...

convoluted logic, isn't it???

[FreakinDJ]

9. Most Bigotry is convoluted logic

[RainDog]

10. what is convoluted is your belief that gay=pedophile

the abuse of children was the abuse of both male and female children.

both hetero and homoseuxual pedophiles, in other words.

as far as why the church may attract pedophiles...

one explanation that I read noted that the church, with its self-hating sexual rhetoric, attracts those who have issues with their sexuality.

maybe they are disgusted by their sexuality because they are attracted to children. they seek out an organization that calls them to celibacy... so that they do not act out their sexual problems.

but their job puts them in positions in which they have absolute power over children.

which is a recipe for abuse.

and the abuse is perpetuated when those in positions of power cover it up.

I don't think celibacy per se has anything to do with whether or not someone is a pedophile. In fact, the claim is stupid on the face of itself considering that celibacy has nothing whatsoever to do with religion.

[DailyGrind51]

6. Because pedophilia even occurs among married people!

What is the explanation for incest, if celibacy is the reason for sexual abuse among clergy?

[Raven]

7. It is the Church's insistance on the absolute obedience of its

flock to its dogmatic teachings, its insistance that the Church is infallable and that its priests can do no wrong that led to this. Pedophiles, like rapists, do the things they do out of a lust for power over others and anger, not because of raging hormones. These pedophile priests were attracted to the Church because of the trust the people placed in their priests, because they knew they could get close to children and never be questioned.

Having been born and raised a Catholic in Boston, I know that my alterboy brothers knew the "bad" priests and talked among themselves about how to stay away from them. They never told anyone about this when they were young, only after the scandal broke in Boston did these now grown men speak about it. Had they told their devout Catholic parents about this back in the 50's and 60's, they would never have been believed.

[Iggo]

8. I've been celibate for 13 years...

...and it never once made me want to fuck children.

[mrmpa]

11. I don't think celibacy is the reason

As a catholic I don't agree with priests having to be celibate or that they have to be men. I think the reason for the molestations is that the church did not do due diligence on those they accepted into their seminaries.

In the 1960's the church did not have a high number of applicants and declared a priest "shortage", almost anyone who applied was accepted. The church did not do appropriate psychological exams of candidates and disregarded any possible mental health issues of applicants.

Statistics show that pedophiles are primarily heterosexual not gay.