Celibacy–a Catholic Violation of Human Rights

During the last few months lay catholics have voiced demands on the Catholic Church to abolish the celibacy. A quite recent example of such initiatives was reported on 7 January in the Austrian daily newspaper “Die Presse”.

An important motivation for this emerging pressure is the growing problem of finding qualified clergymen to replace those who retire or are leaving the church for other reasons.

The idea is that the abolition of celibacy would help to attract young male heterosexual theologians to become priests, which would also – as an extra bonus - probably reduce the number of children being sexually abused by priests with abnormal sexual orientation. - Yes, it is abnormal to have sex with children – and criminal as well.

The above reasons for ceasing to demand of Catholic priests that they live in celibacy are good and valid but why not simply admit or acknowledge that even Catholic priests have a fundamental right to get married, if they so wish? Why do states that are not governed by the Pope himself, like the Holy See, allow this inhuman discrimination by one employer (the Catholic Church) of a part of its employees (the Catholic priests)?

The following is an excerpt of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly in 1948:

Article 16.1
Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.

Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

And here is an excerpt from the European Convention on Human Rights which entered into force in 1953:

Article 12 – Right to marry
Men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and to found a family, according to the national laws governing the exercise of this right.

Article 14 – Prohibition of discrimination
The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.

Please note the references in both documents to both “sex” and “religion”.

I repeat my question, why do states, especially those that ascribe to the principles of secularism, accept this kind of discriminatory treatment of a whole professional category?

The Catholic Church in its name of “Holy See” is an internationally recognised “state”, but how long shall other states tolerate its operation as a state-in-their-state?

One of many examples of this situation is its pre-medieval practice of mandatory celibacy for a significant part of its staff, a practice which is in overt violation of human rights and national legislation!

The Holy See – the Catholic church as state

The Holy See, which is defined as the Pope and the curia, has managed to acquire the international status of a national state. As such it is, inter alia, accepted as a non-member state of the United Nations and as a regular member state of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

This internationally recognised statehood gives the Catholic church several advantages not given to other religious or belief organisations that can only act in their roles as non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Thus, in relation to these, the Catholic church has acquired excellent platforms to propagate its religious message and politico-ethical values.

This inequitable situation has been severely criticised by the British Queen’s Counsel and human rights lawyer and judge Geoffrey Robertson. In his recently published book “The Case of the Pope” he delivers a sharp analysis of the way in which the Catholic church has - through its own secretly applied legal system based on the so called Canon Law – protected criminal members of their staff from legal prosecution through the secular law enforcement systems of their respective countries.

This Canon Law system, which is promoted and defended by the Pope himself, has been instrumental in concealing large numbers of cases of sexual abuse of minors committed by Catholic priests and other servants of that church. Robertson reveals with great precision how this obsolete and non-transparent system has been used to conceal a widespread sexual eploitation and oppression of minors. He demonstrates that a lacking regard for their integrity and rehabilitation needs and an astonishing lack of accountability prevail at all levels of the entire hierarchy of the Catholic church.

Nobody should be above the law and no state should be allowed to interfere with the legal system of any other state. The Catholic church, however, still insists on applying their own Canon Law, even in cases where their staff are suspected of serious crimes and in doing so the church is deliberately acting to circumvent the rule of law of several countries.

Why is this disregard for the national sovereignty of other states and interference with their law enforcement systems tolerated by these states?

It is also unclear why a state that has neither a permanent population nor a territory of its own, why a state that shows little respect for the rule of law of other states, why a state that is not a democracy and which is, in fact, not even a state but a religion or a church, why such an entity should be a non-member state of the United Nations and a regular member of the OSCE.

Why is the Catholic church not simply treated as an NGO amongst others and accepted as such – no more, no less?


PS. Mr. Robertson’s book “The Case of the Pope” can be found at
http://www.amazon.de/Case-Pope-Vatican-Accountability-Rights/dp/0241953847