WASHINGTON—Researchers commissioned by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops to analyze the clergy sex abuse problem say that homosexuality and celibacy did not cause the crisis.
The study instead says isolated priests who were poorly trained were affected by the increase in deviancy of the 1960s.
The analysis by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice will be released Wednesday morning in Washington.
Researchers say that only a tiny percentage of priests accused of molesting children could be technically defined as pedophiles. The authors of the study define pedophile as an adult with an intense sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children. The report says the abuse problem peaked in the 1970s, then declined sharply.
Critics say the study can’t be trusted since the raw data was provided by the bishops.