The Archbishop of Vienna on Thursday said priestly celibacy could be one of the causes of the sex abuse scandals to hit the Catholic church.
In an article for Thema Kirche, his diocesan magazine, Christoph Schonborn became the most senior figure in the Catholic hierarchy to make the connection between the two and called for an “unflinching examination” of the possible reasons for pedophilia.
“These include the issue of priest training, as well as the question of what happened in the so-called sexual revolution,” he wrote. “It also includes the issue of priest celibacy and the issue of personality development. It requires a great deal of honesty, both on the part of the Church and of society as a whole.”
Schonborn is not the first person to suggest a link between celibacy and pedophilia — the theologian Hans Kung has made the same assertion.
A spokesman clarified the archbishop’s words, saying that he was “in no way” seeking to question the celibacy rule or call for its abolition.
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