For the Catholic Church to get past the European sex abuse scandal, it first needs the right people to offer honesty
After Archbishop Robert Zollitsch's recent papal audience, he spoke of Pope Benedict XVI's "great shock" and "profound agitation" over the many cases of abuse coming to light. Zollitsch, archbishop of Freiburg, Germany, and the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, asked pardon of the victims and spoke again about measures that have already been taken or will soon be taken. But neither he nor the pope addressed the real question that can no longer be put aside.
According to the German polling agency Enmid, only 10 percent of those interviewed in Germany believe the church is doing enough in dealing with this scandal, and 86 percent say the church's leadership shows insufficient willingness to come to grips with the sex abuse problem. The bishops' denial that there is any connection between mandatory celibacy for priests and the abuse problem only confirms these criticisms.
This recent series of events raises four key questions. Photo - The Washington Post
The first of these questions is why the pope continues to assert that what he calls "holy" celibacy is a "precious gift," thus ignoring the biblical teaching that explicitly permits and even encourages marriage for all office holders in the church?
