Vatican should consider voluntary celibacy to cut child abuse risk: royal commission final report

Compulsory celibacy among Catholic priests contributed to child sexual abuse in Australia and local church leaders should ask the Vatican to consider introducing voluntary celibacy, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has recommended in its landmark final report. After five years, 444 days of public hearings and 8013 private sessions, the commission delivered its 17-volume final report in Canberra on Friday and set a six-month deadline for a response from government on 189 new recommendations.