Pope John Paul urged the Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday to improve vetting procedures for would-be priests in the wake of numerous sex scandals.
In a letter to the cardinal in charge of priestly education, the pope said specialists might have to be called into to help teach young candidates about the reality of celibate chastity.
"Right from the moment the young men enter a Seminary their ability to live a life of celibacy should be monitored so that before their ordination one should be morally certain of their sexual and emotional maturity," the pope wrote.
"Given on-going social and cultural changes, teachers might find it useful to turn to the work of competent specialists to help the seminarians fully understand the demands of the priesthood," he added.
The pope, who is suffering from influenza and has canceled all his public appearances so far this week, has previously called on bishops to provide more guidance to priests to try to prevent the sort of sex scandals that rocked the U.S. church.
A study released last year said more than 10,600 children in the United States had reported being molested by priests since 1950 in an epidemic of abuse involving at least 4 percent of the U.S. Roman Catholic clergy.
Abuse scandals have also emerged in other countries, including staunchly Roman Catholic Ireland and Austria.