Hi, Hannelore: I am sure some priests who have offended may have started off their priesthoods with the right psychological faculties but, along the way, chose to do wrong than right. There are many factors which lead to that end, whilst with no intention to mitigate circumstances, I believe if certain things were in place, it would not have been too easy for these priests to lose their way.

On the issue of celibacy, the Catholic Church forbids no one to marry. No one is required to take the vow of celibacy. Those who do, choose to do so voluntarily, renouncing marriage. Catholics are free to marry with the Church’s blessing. The Church simply choose to elect candidates for the priesthood from among those who voluntarily renounce marriage. As Jackie has mentioned, celibacy is not part of the Church's dogma or doctrine and can be changed by Papal applications although there are many within the Church who would argue that it has scriptural origin and not entirely pure discipline. The Catholic Church does allow for married priests. The Eastern Catholic Churches have married clergy as a norm although their bishops tend to be celibate. The Roman Catholic Church have also, of late, ordained married priests who have crossed over from the Anglican, Episcopalian, Lutheran denominations to name a few. The Church has also ordained into priesthood widows and even married men who have chosen to pursue the priestly vocation when and where patrimonial issues have been resolved. So, it would now seem that the Catholic Church is not as rigid as once thought to be.