Rome, Italy, Mar 29, 2010 / 10:55 am
The comments of three cardinals on the Church's discipline of having celibate priests have been featured widely in the Italian news media in the last 24 hours. Cardinal Walter Kasper, who works at the Vatican, said that tying sexual abuse to celibacy "is a true abuse of the abuses."
Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told Italy's La Stampa newspaper in an interview published Monday that "celibacy has nothing to do with the sexual abuses of the clergy against minors."
He underlined that according to the studies of experts, "the very great majority of cases of abuse occur in families and not in ecclesiastic environments."
He added that to call celibacy into question "is a true abuse of the abuses." It continues to conserve its meaning, so there is no need to "take another look at the state of things," especially not at this point in time in a climate "poisoned by the scandals," Cardinal Kasper said.