According to a new investigation, clerical celibacy may be one of the factors to have contributed to the increase in cases of child sex abuse within the Roman Catholic Church. The Truth Justice and Healing Council in Australia recently released a 40-page-activity report, which links pedophilia to celibacy for the first time ever.

The contentious single line comes halfway through the report, saying, “… obligatory celibacy may also have contributed to abuse in some circumstances.”

Naturally, church authorities quickly asserted that there was not enough data for the standards that determine priestly chastity to be reconsidered.

Francis Sullivan, the Council’s chief Executive, claimed, “There would be a long way to go before that conversation would be had and it would be beyond our brief anyway.”

The Council, which was established in January 2013, has the directive to both represent and reform the Australian Catholic Church, but it does not always represent the opinions of the entire clergy.

Vatican’s spokesperson in Sydney, too, responded to the claims of the report, while accepting it partially but dismissing it at large.

“We certainly don’t take the issue lightly, but are these claims [by the Healing Council] based on a serious, long-term psychological study?” said Archbishop Anthony Fisher.

Fisher also implied that child sex abuse was more likely to take place within the family and among family members, who by nature are far from being celibate. He said these individuals usually include fathers and uncles of the victims.

Jodi Death, technology researcher at Queensland University, who has carefully studied various aspects of child abuse within the Catholic Church, said the evidence in the report points towards a higher incidence of abuse among Catholics as compared to other religious denominations that allow their clergy members to marry.

“The problem of celibacy in the Catholic church is it puts priests in an elite category,” she said. “They are set apart because of the celibacy that’s required of them and this gives them the authority to exercise power.”

Recently, Australia has faced a lot of flak for a number of child abuse scandals that were exposed within the country’s Catholic Church, which happens to be the largest denomination in the country, representing almost 25 percent of its total population. Victim advocacy group Broken Rites substantiated the investigative report’s claims, saying more than

100 Catholic priests have been involved in sexual offences with minors, though other groups suggest the numbers are in the thousands.

Photo Credits: Radio Netherlands Worldwide