Fr Gino Flaim, on San Giuseppe parish in the northern city of Trento, told Italian television live that he understood how priests could "succumb" to abusing children, and that children were "for the large part" responsible.
He told La7: "I can understand paedophilia. I've been in lots of schools and I know children.
"Unfortunately there are some children who look for affection because they don't get it at home. And perhaps they find it in a priest... he might succumb. And I understand this."
When asked if children were the ones to blame when paedophilia happens, Fr Flaim replied: "For the large part, yes."
Mr Flaim also affirmed that paedophilia was a sin, while calling homosexuality a "disease".
The archdiocese of Trento in northern Italy said in a statement: "We disassociate ourselves completely from the remarks made by this priest."
The priests comments come as Pope Francis holds the Catholic Church's three-week synod on the family at the Vatican in Rome, where issues including divorce and remarriage are being discussed.
Pope Francis has expressed a need to include and welcome gay people into the Church, without changing its doctrine that sexuality and marriage should be between a man and a woman only.
He famously said about the issue in 2013: "Who am I to judge?"
