I’ve shared this story before, here, but it’s been a while....Full disclosure: I grew up Catholic but am no longer, and the following true story is one of the main reasons why.
Way back when I was in high school, I had a friend named Greg. He was an avowed homosexual (yes, they existed back then - and yes, we still got along with him. If someone accused me of hanging out with a ****sucker, I’d just say that he never tried to suck mine).
Greg was a nice guy and a decent friend, but he had a priesthood fetish. Somehow he acquired priestly robes and some of the doodads that Catholic priests use during Mass. He would practice doing priest stuff at home. Why? Because he was determined to become a priest. He said it was the perfect cover for a homosexual man. He said that seminary would be one long, unsupervised homosexual orgy, and then nobody would question why he wasn’t married or ever hung out with girls.
I lost track of Greg after high school, but I did hear that he achieved his ambition. Never knew if he was one of those that preyed on young boys - when the lists came out of known sexual predator priests I searched but never found his name.
This is just one sample - I’m sure there are many more.
THE RC Church turned a blind eye to the issue because 1. They needed butts in the pulpits and 2. Many of the hierarchy were just like Greg. I can’t see how the Church as a whole can bear an effective witness for Christ when so many of its leaders are unrepentant sinners. Good individuals can be effective witnesses, but the Church as a whole lacks credibility.
This would stop if the Roman religion required priests to be married to a woman. Like the Apostles were.