The Pope has ardently defended his position regarding celibacy following new allegations, in recent weeks, of sex scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in Germany.

Since late January, new allegations of abuse at Catholic institutions across Germany have been made almost every day. Around 170 people have now opened cases against the church.

A source close to the Pope, Freiburg Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, president of a conference of German bishops and the highest-ranking Catholic in Germany said that the Pope was “distraught” over the new allegations being made.

The Pope has simultaneously taken a firm stand on his position with regards to celibacy, however.

“It is the sign of full devotion, the entire commitment to the Lord and to the Lord's business, an expression of giving oneself to God and to others,” he said, while addressing a theological conference hours before meeting with Zollitsch over the sex abuse allegations.

His remarks seemed to come on the heels of those made by Austrian Cardinal, Christoph Schöborn, who argues in the latest edition of his diocesan magazine that celibacy may have encouraged sex abuse.