I can't claim that all of the ideas here are my own, but I will deliberately not name the source most influential to this writing.
In the Catholic Church, women aren't allowed to become priests, and men who do so must take a vow of celibacy. Now ask yourself, what would the general profile be of a person who fits those stringent requirements? What kind of male would be most willing to forgo the biological purpose of his existence to dedicate himself like that?
For a long time, homosexuals have been heavily persecuted and socially ostracized, most often by the religious whose holy books proclaimed them to be affronts to God. Now if you were an individual (male) whose sexual orientation was grounds for ostracism or other forms of punishment including execution, how might you integrate yourself into society to live as happily as possible? What if there were a socially acceptable profession that deliberately forbade consorting with women?
The end result of these social dynamics was that with tremendous irony, many who chose to enter the priesthood were those whom the Abrahamic religions abhorred. The persecuted ended up persecuting themselves. In one most recent example, Cardinal Keith O'Brien admitted to (homo)sexual misconduct despite being one of the most vitriolic opponents to same sex relationships (See link below).
As we all know, sexual urges are VERY hard to simply ignore; they need to find one outlet or another. And so, the Catholic Church has been mired in sexual scandals, from the infamous priest pedophilia to the rumored hiring of male prostitutes in the Vatican. One current theory is that Benedict XVI didn't resign due to his health but rather due to some sort of blackmail from male prostitutes hired by Catholic Priests. I make no attempt here to excuse pedophilia, I'm just speculating on one of it's causes.
The Vatican has botched the handling of its priest's transgressions, leading to a public relations debacle. In terms of their views towards homosexuality and women they remain obstinately in the past, alienating more and more of the younger generations. They thus ever recede in relevance from the public sphere.
And so, the Catholic Church is being destroyed by those whom they decided to persecute. You'd think they would have learned something about that from their own past overcoming Roman persecution to eventually dominate a huge swath of the globe.
Link (courtesy of Reddit): http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/03/03/cardinal-keith-obrien-admits-inappropriate-sexual-conduct-following-allegations/
