Points of information

doi:10.1136/bmj.b2619

Published 29 June 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2619
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2619

Letters

Celibacy of Catholic priests

Points of information

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Sexual abuse by clergy was condemned by the Council of Elvirain 306 (the first recorded case of such a condemnation), butthis was over 700 years before mandatory clerical celibacy.This rather undermines Delamothe’s argument about priestlycelibacy¹: sexual abuse of young people by those in authorityhas been around for a long time, well before any requirementto be celibate.

Sexual abuse by other groups—other religious leaders fromdenominations where celibacy is not a requirement, teachers,social workers, health professionals—all show a breachof trust and predatory behaviour. Yet in each of these, again,celibacy would seem to be a red herring.

I realise the title of the piece was a reference to St Paul’sinjunction, but if Delamothe is seriously advocating marriageas an antidote, this may be missing the target: 90% of the sexualabuse reported was by male perpetrators on pubescent and teenageboys. . . . [Full text of this article]

Paul W Keeley, consultant palliative physician¹

¹ Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow G4 0SF

Paul.Keeley@ggc.scot.nhs.uk