Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, the Vatican's ambassador to the Dominican Republic, offers mass in Santo Domingo
Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, the Vatican's ambassador to the Dominican Republic, offers mass in Santo Domingo August 3, 2009. The Vatican has recalled Wesolowski, who has been in the Dominican Republic for nearly six years, and relieved him of his duties pending an investigation, after local media accused him of paedophilia, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said on September 4, 2013. Picture taken August 3, 2009. REUTERS/Luis Gomez/Diario Libr

A church report on child sex abuse blamed it on celibacy. It said that the vow of obligatory celibacy might have been responsible for child abuse incidents involving the clergy for decades.

The Truth, Justice and Healing Council of the church released a report on child sex abuse that priests would require going through the on-going training to solve the problem. According to CEO Francis Sullivan, the on-going training should also include psychosexual development for the priests. He said that it was a "no-brainer" that issues on individual understanding of psychosexuality, along with its formation and proper training, had been raised.

ABC News quoted Sullivan saying that one needed to address how sexuality was understood and practised by clergy members so that a public enquiry into the sex crimes in the Catholic Church could be done. "You need a very clear understanding about your own sexuality, your own sexual development, your own way of relating as a person to others," he said, "That's called psychosexual education. Certainly in the past, there was none." The council CEO, on the other hand, denied that the report was suggesting that priests should no longer require practising celibacy.

The Australian council is working in co-ordination with the church to respond to the Royal Commission. The federal government asked for the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2012. The report, released on Friday, Dec. 12, raises key issues and concerns by focusing on how people get affected by abuse. Sky News reported that some of the church leaders had apparently turned a blind eye to sexual abuse and protected the institution while failing to care for the child victim. A section of the report on "clericalism" says that "obligatory celibacy" probably contributed to sexual abuse on some occasions. Sullivan admitted that the church leaders might consider the reference as challenging.

According to Nicky Davis representing the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, the church should admit that it had failed to handle complaints in an appropriate manner. He said that church officials had been involved in every case he was aware of. The officials deceived and manipulated survivors while putting them in such a position that they had no other option but to accept a pittance.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au