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Shaken by pedophilia cases more because they have broken an effective code of silence than because they have tarnished an image of strict sexual morals, the Catholic Church has attempted to maintain a pact of denial, enabling it to avoid addressing the impasse surrounding the pseudo-theological discipline of celibacy. One way of avoiding the issue has been to lay the blame on homosexual priests. But in reality, this crisis is a result of sexual infantilization stemming from the demonization of sexual pleasure since time immemorial. This demonization—which was revived in the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, when there was a furor against masturbation—was based on the discrediting of all sexual practices not justified by procreation. In fact, traditional training for the priesthood leads to a fear of homosexuality as well as of women. The weakest are therefore left to console themselves “with other children.”