Church must tackle taboo subjects, top German catholic says

Sep 24, 2010, 13:45 GMT

Fulda, Germany - The Catholic Church must be ready to debate taboos such as sexuality, celibacy of priests and the remarriage of divorcees, German prelate and Archbishop of Freiburg Robert Zollitsch said Friday.

Speaking at the end of the Conference of Bishops' autumn assembly, Zollitsch acknowledged that a string of child sex abuse scandals had caused a great 'shock' for Catholics.

'The issue of the ... personal, spiritual and sacramental life of our clergy has long been pressing,' Zollitsch said.

The church has been rocked in several European nations this year by hundreds of allegations of abuse, some dating back 60 years. Pope Benedict has apologised several times for the abuse, most recently during his visit to Britain.

The Conference of Bishops in Germany was now 'taking the initiative toward dialogue that involves itself as well as the diocese,' he said.

'That includes ways to talk about awkward subjects in the area of sexuality, the vow of celibacy or the receiving of the sacrament by divorcees,' he said.

On Thursday the bishops' conference said that it would offer financial compensation to victims of sex abuse by Catholic priests.

The bishops also approved stricter guidelines for Germany which require police to be routinely called when abuse is discovered.

Zollitsch said that the bishops themselves were prepared to undergo much more 'self-critical discussion.'