Austrian archbishop calls for priest celibacy rethink

The Roman Catholic Church must ask itself whether celibacy is still an appropriate way of life for priests, the Archbishop of Salzburg Alois Kothgasser said in a television interview.

"In the Church's current situation, the question must be asked whether celibacy is an appropriate way of life for priests and an appropriate way of life for believers," Kothgasser told ORF public television.

"Times have changed and society has changed. The Church must therefore ask itself in what way it can continue to cultivate this particular way of life, or what it must change," he added.

Asked whether he, as an archbishop, was ashamed about the sexual abuse that was carried out within the Church, Kothgasser replied: "Very, especially as I learn more and more just how much suffering has been caused, physical, psychological and to people's souls."

The archbishop also regretted that the Church had made mistakes in investigating cases of sexual abuse in the past.

"We need new effort for more honesty and truthfulness but there still isn't the necessary openness there," he said.

"There's still a certain degree of timidity there, which we must overcome if we're not going to lose all credibility."

Earlier this week, Vienna's archbishop, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, also urged the Church to look at the issue of priest celibacy when considering the possible causes behind the current sex abuse scandal, even if he insisted that he was not calling into question the Vatican's stance on celibacy.

A number of cases of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Austria have recently come to light.