What are the root causes of the recent clerical sexual abuse scandals within the Catholic Church? What are the root causes of the recent clerical sexual abuse scandals within the Catholic Church?
A comment to this question (Is it known which seminary or seminaries produced the majority of Catholic priests who were accused of sexual abuse in the USA?) lead me to ask this one:

Considering clerical abuse is a worldwide phenomenon that crosses all denominations, looking for a few seminaries as the root cause seems misguided.

Protestant churches have no requirement of celibacy, but they are not immune to these vices either.
What are the origins of this sinful phenomenon within the clergy of the Catholic Church.
The percentage of Catholic priests who indulge in sexual abuse may not be on higher side compared with that of doctors, teachers , policemen et al   who have direct interaction with their clients in fiduciary capacity or otherwise.   But unfortunately, the news value of alleged abuse by Catholic priests  is much more than the other cases put together. The simple reason is that  malpractice of priests is an affront to the very trust invested on them by the faithful. Children and the young alike choose to go unaccompanied, to the private room of a priest more easily than they would, to that of a doctor or teacher. Who will tell them that priests are also made of flesh and blood like every other human being  is ? It is the parents who miserably fail in their duty in this aspect. The Church needs to cultivate a collective consciousness towards the vice.