Pope Francis

Francis tells an Italian newspaper that the Catholic Church’s requiring its clergy to remain celibate is a “problem” for which “there are solutions.”  Allegedly, the Pope told the newspaper that one in 50 members of the clergy are pedophiles, and he says the Church’s sex abuse scandal is “a leprosy in our house.” The Pope tells Eugenio Scalfari, the 90-year-old founder of La Repubblica:

The 2 percent of pedophiles are priests, and even bishops and cardinals. And others, even more numerous, know about it but keep quiet. They punish without saying the reason why. I find this state of things untenable and it is my intention to confront it with the severity it requires.