DThe review commission in the Archdiocese of Freiburg has accused the archdiocese, but also other German dioceses, of continuing to exclude the topic of sexuality in priestly training and thus making it more difficult to effectively prevent abuse. It is “taboo to this day” in training and “not developed in a contemporary manner with the aspect of protecting both possible future victims and the affected training candidates themselves,” says “Recommendations for dealing with sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Freiburg,” which was published on Wednesday were published.

The commission expresses “significant doubts” as to whether questions of relationships and sexuality, given the positions of the Church's magisterium, particularly the obligation to celibacy and the condemnation of homosexuality, could actually be discussed as openly in the context of priestly training as those responsible for the commission ” “suggested”. It is difficult to imagine that a candidate for the priesthood would speak openly about his sexuality, sexual orientation or his problems with sexuality or celibacy in view of the threat of a “profession ban,” write the five members of the commission chaired by the Freiburg fundamental theologian Magnus Striet. However, this is necessary because the results of the abuse studies have shown that, in addition to the group of perpetrators with pedophilic tendencies, there are also those who have an immature relationship to sexuality.

Archbishop should “remove the taboo on the topic of homosexuality”

This lack of openness also prevents “identifying really problematic preference constellations from child protection aspects (such as pedosexual preferences) that exclude suitability for the job,” the paper continues. The commission writes that the topic of sexuality must take up a “completely different space” in the training of future priests than has previously been the case. This applies in particular “as long as the lifelong commitment to celibacy appears to remain valid externally”. The commission “strongly calls on Archbishop Stephan Burger of Freiburg, who is also the deputy abuse commissioner of the German Bishops’ Conference, to remove taboos from the topic of homosexuality.” He must also ensure that no candidate for the priesthood has to deny their sexual orientation.

Abuse prevention is now an integral part of priestly training in Germany. However, there is currently no comprehensive evaluation. As concrete measures, the Freiburg Processing Commission suggests, among other things, setting a “significantly older age” for training to become a priest in order to enable a mature decision. In their view, the selection of candidates for the priesthood should be entrusted to senior pastors with practical experience.