 Only men are allowed to receive holy orders, and the church does not allow any transgender people to do so.In the 1990s and 2000s, the cases of sexual abuse by Catholic priests gained worldwide attention, with thousands of accused priests and tens of thousands of alleged victims.The church estimated that over the 50 years ending in 2009, between 1.5% and 5% of Catholic priests had a sexual encounter with a minor, and Dr. Thomas Plante estimated a figure of 4%.