Italian Priests' Secret Mistresses Ask Pope to Scrap Celibacy Rule
THE GUARDIAN: Forty women send unprecedented letter to pontiff saying priests need to 'experience feelings, love and be loved'

The pope delivers a speech at the conference of Italian bishops at the Vatican. Photograph: The Guardian
Dozens of Italian women who have had relationships with Roman Catholic priests or lay monks have endorsed an open letter to the pope that calls for the abolition of the celibacy rule. The letter, thought by one signatory to be unprecedented, argues that a priest "needs to live with his fellow human beings, experience feelings, love and be loved".

It also pleads for understanding of those who "live out in secrecy those few moments the priest manages to grant [us] and experience on a daily basis the doubts, fears and insecurities of our men".

The issue was put back on the Vatican's agenda in March when one of Pope Benedict's senior advisers, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna, said the abolition of the celibacy rule might curb sex abuse by priests, a suggestion he hastily withdrew after Benedict spoke up for "the principle of holy celibacy".

The authors of the letter said they decided to come into the open after hearing his retort, which they said was an affirmation of "the holiness of something that is not holy" but a man-made rule. There are many instances of married priests in the early centuries of Christianity. Today, priests who follow the eastern Catholic rites can be married, as can those who married before converting to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism. >>> John Hooper in Rome | Thursday, May 27, 2010

Pope Defends Celibacy Rule Amid Sex Abuse Scandals
BBC: Pope Benedict XVI has defended celibacy among priests, saying it was a sign of "full devotion" to the Catholic Church.

He was speaking at a theological conference before meeting Germany's top bishop for talks about a new crisis over sexual abuse of children.

German Bishop Robert Zollitsch apologised again to victims of abuse by German priests.

The Archbishop of Vienna had suggested that the Church should examine celibacy and priests' training. >>> | Friday, March 12, 2010

Cardinal Schönborn Says Celibacy Partly to Blame for Clerical Sex Abuse
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn is seen as a future candidate for the papacy. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: A cardinal seen as a future candidate for the papacy has broken a Vatican taboo by raising the possibility that priestly celibacy is among the causes of the sex abuse scandal sweeping the Roman Catholic Church.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna and a protégé of Pope Benedict XVI, wrote in his archdiocese's magazine this week that the Church must make an "unflinching examination" of the causes of the scandal.

He said that these included "the issue of priests' training, as well as the question of what happened in the so-called sexual revolution of the generation of 1968".

He added: "It also includes the question of priest celibacy and the question of personality development. It requires a great deal of honesty, both on the part of the Church and of society as a whole." >>> Richard Owen in Rome | Thursday, March 11, 2010

Father Hans Kung [sic] Blames Catholic Views on Sex for Clerical Child Abuse
TIMES ONLINE: A leading Roman Catholic theologian has linked clerical sex abuse with priestly celibacy, blaming the Church’s “uptight” views on sex for child abuse scandals in Germany, Ireland and the US.

Father Hans Kung [sic], President of the Global Ethic Foundation and professor emeritus at the University of Tübingen in Germany, said that the Church’s attitude was also revealed in its opposition to birth control.

The German church rejected any suggestion that abuse was linked to celibacy, homosexuality or church teaching.

Last week the Regensburg Diocese in Germany revealed that a former chorister claimed he was abused while a member of its choir, which was led for three decades by Father Georg Ratzinger, brother of Pope Benedict XVI. The Holy See said that it backed the diocese’s attempts to investigate the scandal by analysing “the painful question in a decisive and open way”. Also last week, in the Holy See, an adult chorister was sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for a Papal usher.

Robert Zollitsch, Archbishop of Freiburg and head of the German bishops’ conference, branded clerical abuse “outrageous” and begged forgiveness from the victims but denied any link between abuse and celibacy.

Writing in The Tablet, Father Kung, who in 1979 was stripped of his licence to teach Catholic theology after he rejected the doctrine of Papal infallibility, welcomed the apology but described the denials of any link between abuse, celibacy and other teaching as “erroneous”. >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Monday, March 08, 2010

Sexual Intercourse Spells Trouble, Says Dalai Lama
Photo of the Dalai Lama courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: Sexual intercourse provides but fleeting satisfaction, while chastity offers a better life and "more freedom", the Dalai Lama has said.

Conjugal life causes too many "ups and downs", the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters in a Lagos hotel.

"Sexual pressure, sexual desire, actually, I think is short-period satisfaction and, often, that leads to more complication," he said.

"Naturally as a human being...some kind of desire for sex comes, but then you use human intelligence to make comprehension that those relationships are always full of trouble."

Problems arising from conjugal life could even lead to suicide or murder, the Dalai Lama warned.

Moreover, he added, the "consolation" in choosing a life of celibacy is that, although "something" is missing, one can have a life with "more independence, more freedom". >>> | November 29, 2008

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