Former Pope blames abuse scandal on the sexual revolution of the swinging 60s

A former Pope has blamed the Catholic Church’s abuse scandal on the effects of the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

Former Pope Benedict XVI, who was born in Germany, published a rare essay in a Bavarian Catholic journal saying that the clerical abuse crisis was brought about by a general “collapse” in morality. He also said that paedophilia was a result of an absence of God.

The controversial comments have sparked debate among theologians, with some critics accusing him of trying to shift blame away from the Church.

Benedict, who for 23 years headed the Vatican doctrinal office that has been widely criticised for its handling of sexual abuse cases, argues in the essay that the sexual revolution led some to believe that paedophilia and pornography were acceptable.

He wrote: “It could be said that in the 20 years from 1960 to 1980, the previously normative standards regarding sexuality collapsed entirely, and a new normalcy arose that has by now been the subject of laborious attempts at disruption.”

He offered his evaluations in a long essay in Klerusblatt, a monthly Church magazine in his native Bavaria region of Germany and said that the impetus for the essay, entitled ‘The Church and the Scandal of Sexual Abuse’, was a summit of senior bishops that the current Pope Francis held in February. A Vatican official confirmed it was authentic.

The former Pope said that the spread of explicit sex education for young schoolchildren and nudity in advertising had contributed to a loosening of moral bearings and also bemoaned how some Catholic seminaries had an openly gay culture and thus failed to train priests properly.

According to an English translation published by several Catholic websites, he said: “Among the freedoms that the Revolution of 1968 sought to fight for was this all-out sexual freedom, one which no longer conceded any norms.

“The mental collapse was also linked to a propensity for violence. That is why sex films were no longer allowed on airplanes because violence would break out among the small community of passengers.

“And since the clothing of that time equally provoked aggression, school principals also made attempts at introducing school uniforms with a view to facilitating a climate of learning.

“Part of the physiognomy of the Revolution of ‘68 was that pedophilia was then also diagnosed as allowed and appropriate.

“For the young people in the Church, but not only for them, this was in many ways a very difficult time. I have always wondered how young people in this situation could approach the priesthood and accept it, with all its ramifications. The extensive collapse of the next generation of priests in those years and the very high number of laicizations were a consequence of all these developments.”

The 91-year-old, who in 2013 became the first Pope in six centuries to resign, was granted permission to write the article by the current Pope Francis.

Benedict was head of the doctrinal office before he became pope in 2005. He was in charge in 2002, when the first-wave abuse cases were exposed in Boston.

Abuse scandals in Ireland, Chile, Australia, France, the US, Poland, Germany and elsewhere have since led the Church to pay out billions of dollars in damages to victims and forced it to close parishes. Many cases date back decades before the 1960s.

Revelations that predatory priests were often moved from parish to parish rather than expelled or criminally prosecuted as bishops covered up the abuse have shaken the church globally and undermined its authority.

Following the publication of his essay, some theologians took to Twitter to criticise Benedict.

“This is an embarrassing letter,” Brian Flanagan, professor of theology at Marymount University in Virginia said.

“The idea that ecclesial abuse of children was a result of the 1960s, a supposed collapse of moral theology, and “conciliarity” (the Church after the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council) is an embarrassingly wrong explanation for the systemic abuse of children and its cover up.”

Massimo Faggioli, professor of theology at Villanova University, added that the essay was “a caricature” of the Church in the post-Vatican II period, “with all its ingenuities and some tragic mistakes”.

Last year, Australian Cardinal George Pell became the most senior Catholic to be convicted for child sex offences. His role as a former top adviser to Pope Francis brought the scandal to the heart of the papal administration.