Pedophilia in Catholic churches is not a cause and a cause of celibacy in the clergy, says the Catholic priest Ilmārs Tolstovs.
He told LETA that the issue of the abolition of celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church had been vibrating for several decades. For example, from 1962 to 1965, the Second Vatican Council was held at the Roman Catholic Church, a meeting of all bishops and leading clergy, which many hoped would give Roman Catholic clergy the opportunity to marry.
At the same time, Tolstov stressed that there are various rites in the Roman Catholic Church, such as the Greek Catholic rite, which already allows the ordination of deacons or men married to the priesthood and men married to priests. Bishops in both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church must always be unmarried.
“After the Second Vatican Council, it was decided to stick to the old tradition and order only unmarried men. This is an old church practice and the clergy in the council believed that this practice was valuable and should be preserved,” Tolstov told LETA.
He noted that the practice of celibacy was valued as valuable in the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Matthew, and the Church sees celibacy as a great gift and opportunity for the Catholic cleric to give himself completely to the service of God and man and thus to be a sign of God’s Kingdom in today’s world. At the same time, Tolstov acknowledged that celibacy is relatively difficult to understand from a pragmatic or productivity point of view.
The Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, had said it would be better if the priests were married – not just for sexual reasons, but because it would be better for their lives and they would not be lonely.
Tolstov is opposed to the loneliness of clergy, pointing out that many people in the family also experience loneliness and various crises in their marital life when living together, and such crises are also present among clergy living in celibacy.
“In Germany, which is represented by the cardinal, many clergy have unfortunately become” church officials “who receive a salary from the state and only perform their duties in the congregations without deeper contact with the members of the congregation. the congregation, which together with the clergy forms a spiritual family or community, “Tolstov said, pointing out that the problem is more to be found in the churches in Germany.
At the same time, the priest drew attention to the opinion expressed by the American psychologist Anna Soltere, who stated that the church, given its great prestige in the eyes of society and a kind of trust in people, is very grateful to various people who want to pervert it, but also in other public places. perversions are present in areas and spheres of life.
Tolstov said the Roman Catholic Church was aware of the gravity of the situation and was doing everything it could to eradicate pedophilia from all its departments. In his view, very extensive measures must be taken to protect children and adolescents, both within the church and in society in general, and to maintain zero tolerance for such cases and situations. Every effort must also be made to ensure that children and young people in any structure and society in the Catholic Church feel safe and secure.
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