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Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican
In an article for his diocese's in-house magazine, Christoph Schoenborn, a cardinal, called for an unflinching examination of the possible roots behind the scandal.
"These include the issue of priest training, as well as the question of what happened in the so-called sexual revolution," Schoenborn wrote.
"It also includes the issue of priest celibacy and the issue of personality development. It requires a great deal of honesty, both on the part of the Church and of society as a whole."
Nevertheless, in a statement clarifying the archbishop's comments, Schoenborn's spokesman Erich Leitenberger insisted that the Cardinal "is in no way seeking to question the Catholic Church's celibacy rule."
Despite calls by a number of theologians and lay Catholic organisations to abolish priest celibacy, the Vatican sees the issue as taboo.
In his article, Schoenborn said he could understand the frustration of many Church employees.
"Enough is enough. That's what many people are saying and thinking," Schoenborn wrote. "Enough of the scandals! How is it that members of the Church are constantly made responsible for crimes that we didn't commit."
A number of cases of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Austria have come to light recently.
This week, a 53-year-old Austrian told national radio Oe1 that he was abused repeatedly for six years, from the age of 11, by two priests and once by a trainee priest.
And the head of a Catholic boarding school in Mehrerau, in western Vorarlberg state, revealed that the abuse of a student in the 1980s had been hushed up.
In 2004, a legal suit was brought against a priest who had allegedly abused 10 children in Tyrol in the 1970s and early 1980s, local ORF radio said.
The case was however suspended after the statute of limitations expired.
The weekly Falter reported that a minister in southern Styria used private lessons and religion classes to sexually abuse up to 20 children and teenagers some 25 years ago.
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"These include the issue of priest training, as well as the question of what happened in the so-called sexual revolution," Schoenborn wrote.
"It also includes the issue of priest celibacy and the issue of personality development. It requires a great deal of honesty, both on the part of the Church and of society as a whole."
Nevertheless, in a statement clarifying the archbishop's comments, Schoenborn's spokesman Erich Leitenberger insisted that the Cardinal "is in no way seeking to question the Catholic Church's celibacy rule."
Despite calls by a number of theologians and lay Catholic organisations to abolish priest celibacy, the Vatican sees the issue as taboo.
In his article, Schoenborn said he could understand the frustration of many Church employees.
"Enough is enough. That's what many people are saying and thinking," Schoenborn wrote. "Enough of the scandals! How is it that members of the Church are constantly made responsible for crimes that we didn't commit."
A number of cases of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Austria have come to light recently.
This week, a 53-year-old Austrian told national radio Oe1 that he was abused repeatedly for six years, from the age of 11, by two priests and once by a trainee priest.
And the head of a Catholic boarding school in Mehrerau, in western Vorarlberg state, revealed that the abuse of a student in the 1980s had been hushed up.
In 2004, a legal suit was brought against a priest who had allegedly abused 10 children in Tyrol in the 1970s and early 1980s, local ORF radio said.
The case was however suspended after the statute of limitations expired.
The weekly Falter reported that a minister in southern Styria used private lessons and religion classes to sexually abuse up to 20 children and teenagers some 25 years ago.
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