Priest Rothe: Almost all clerics up to the Pope are not celibate

The Munich priest Wolfgang F. Rothe is convinced that hardly any Catholic priests are completely celibate. As the Catholic Church understands celibacy to mean "complete and perpetual abstinence" from any kind of sexual activity, "strictly speaking, even a furtive sideways glance at a person you find sexually attractive is an offence against celibacy," said Rothe in an interview with the Swiss Catholic internet portal kath.ch on Sunday. In this sense, he is definitely not celibate - "just like presumably almost all other Catholic clerics from chaplain to pope. Living a celibate life in this sense is virtually impossible," said the priest.

Rothe described celibacy as a "risk factor for sexual abuse". Those who are obliged to be celibate, even though they have completely normal sexual feelings and would actually like to live them out, experience a strong tension. "On the one hand, he should live like an angel. On the other hand, he has completely normal sexual needs." Because breaches of celibacy are not only sinful, but may also be punishable under canon law, they inevitably have to take place in secret. "And who is the easiest person to silence? That's right: children, young people and other more or less defenceless people," said the priest. The credibility of the investigation into abuse must be measured by whether and to what extent the church is prepared to abolish the obligation of celibacy. "In other words: in my opinion, anyone who wants to maintain the obligation of celibacy must be accused of not doing enough to combat sexual abuse."

When asked about his own role, Rothe said that precisely because he is a priest, he feels obliged to openly name the failures and shortcomings of the church. "The church is indeed an organisation of perpetrators. Many perpetrators of abuse only committed their offences because they were able to do so. Because the church offered them an environment in which they could be sure that they would not be held accountable." Some things have changed for the better in the meantime, but by no means everything. "The tension of not only belonging to a perpetrator organisation, but also working for it, is something I have to endure, as difficult as it is for me at times. I do this because you can contribute far better to changing an organisation like the Catholic Church from the inside than from the outside." He still enjoys being a priest. "If I were to resign, I would be doing the greatest favour to those who were the reason for my resignation." (stz)