Pedophile Priest/Sandbox



"''"Deep in prayer my cross to bear,

I kneel upon the floor.

Temptations of a Catholic priest aren't easy to ignore.

But I can not control myself

It rips my soul apart!

For one small sheep among my flock has

Stole this shepherd's heart."''"

- Stephen Lynch, Priest

One of the most infamous scandals of the Catholic church. For centuries, both homosexuals and pedophiles (often falsely conflated) were ostracized from polite society and singled out for abuse if they remained "confirmed bachelors" amongst European communities. So they withdrew into the Church, where their lack of a wife would go unnoticed and even praised. Some probably went in genuinely seeking a life of celibacy and repentance. Others saw the benefit - easy access to:
 * Other adult male priests in a similar disposition: Totally legal and not so very objectionable by the standards of the modern Western World and thus today you'll find much fewer homosexual men who feel compelled to join the clergy.
 * Choirboys and underage members of the church (not so much).
 * Complete. Public. Trust. The public knew that a priest could not possibly be a sexual deviant. A priest was the one person that every single member of a religious community would outright refuse to suspect of wrongdoing.

Somewhat truth in television, although the perception of Catholic priests as a group particularly prone to child abuse is something of an exaggeration, or sometimes more than just an exaggeration. .

When used as a trope, these circumstances are often used in two ways:
 * Dramatic pedophile priests: The Catholic church is basically an evil, unholy, Corrupt Church run entirely by pedophiles for the sake of keeping them from being prosecuted and basically paying them to rape little boys. Expect the story to be about uncovering the corrupt conspiracy of the Catholic church (often going all the way up to the Pope) ruining the lives of young men.
 * Comedic pedophile priests: Oh those wacky deviant Catholic priests and their silly and hilarious desire to rape little boys. What won't that wacky priest get up to next in his quest to get into little Billy's pants?

While in fiction this is type of abuse is usually only attributed to Catholic priests (or occasionally nuns), in Real Life it also occurs in various Protestant denominations and other religions. In fact, there is speculation that cases of pedophilia in Protestant Churches may outnumber those in the Catholic Church (it's speculated that the reason Catholic priests are more likely to get prosecuted is that the Church tends to be better at record-keeping). The Catholic Church gets singled out because it sided overwhelmingly with accused priests and moved them around to escape prosecution - even in cases where the priests were recidivists. Being the largest single Christian denomination (and thus the most visible) probably had something to do with it as well.

Whilst the phenomenon of Pedophile Priest is Truth in Television for some religious figures, Unfortunate Implications can result if it is insinuated that this phenomenon is universal (i.e. "all priests are pedophiles"), or if homosexuality and pedophilia are treated as being linked to one another.

In terms of rank, the Authority Tropes arguably equal are Badass Preacher, Corrupt Corporate Executive, Irish Priest, Landlord, Preacher Man, Schoolteachers, Sexy Priest, Sinister Minister and The Vicar. For the next step down, see Student Council President. For the next step up, see Dean Bitterman.