April 26, 2011
A retired Catholic bishop in Australia has claimed that some priests do not view the molestation of boys as a breach of their celibacy vows.
Geoffrey Robinson, the former auxiliary bishop of Sydney, blames the absence of women from church life as a catalyst for the sexual abuse crisis enveloping the faith.
There was also a view among some offenders with whom he had worked that a priest's celibacy vows weren't broken if a boy was involved.
"We've met it often enough to see it as a factor. That's what the vow of celibacy refers to, being married. If it's not an adult woman, then somehow they're not breaking their vow," Adelaide Now quoted him as telling the magazine.
