Father Hans Zollner, a German priest and an expert in the fight against sexual abuse in the Church, said in a Sept. 26 interview with Infovaticana that celibacy is not a direct cause of this evil. …
“All scientific reports, including those commissioned by non-Church institutions, conclude that celibacy in itself does not lead to abuse. Therefore, it is wrong to say that with the abolition of celibacy there would no longer be cases of abuse in the Catholic Church,” he emphasized.
The former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, from which he resigned in March, said that “sexual abuse arises above all from an abuse of power that someone takes advantage of.”
“These reports conclude, and this is what I also maintain, that without a solid human formation or a healthy, integral life and working in community, a celibate life can lead to abuse,” he said. “If the priest does not have human, spiritual, and work equilibrium, inner emptiness and desires that are not well integrated can lead him to commit abuse.”
[Sexual abuse in power-imbalanced relationships happen with at least the same frequency in other institutions as they do in the Catholic Church, and beyond even religious institutions. Need we mention the ongoing flood of arrests and convictions of public- and private-school teachers, many if not most of them married, for sexual abuse of their students? The difference is mainly that the Catholic Church covered it up and schools had been more transparent (relatively speaking), but celibacy clearly isn’t the issue. Predation and power abuse are. — Ed]
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