the pope may have been a naughty boy.

[billy]

would things change if they allowed priests to marry and have sex?

personally i feel that if a person is good it makes no diff if he's religious or not but when they're bad and religious it's like a double kick in the balls. not saying the pope is bad even if he was a brown shirt. and because he brother slapped kids shouldn't have a bearing on the pope.

i really do think they need to sort out the celibacy rule though.
maybe the question should have been ;
should priests be able to marry?

Maybe they should consider it. But the church's biggest problem isn't that their sexually frustrated. The problem is that they're corrupt.

Lets get real. What infuriated people about the child abuse scandal wasn't the sex part, it was the sheer evilness of it, and the fact that the church chose to cover their behinds instead of protecting the kids. That they chose to keep repeat offenders in the church and continually gave them access to kids instead of dropping them outright and letting those bastards face the law. Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt.

extremely good point. i agree the church or any organisation should disown and even help the police prosecute them. not doing so is as you say evil.

that said i still thing there would be less crimes against kids if sex and marriage were allowed.