Agree age is no excuse. Some of my oldest rellies were born in the 19th century, no way they'd have come out with this nonsense. Child abuse has never been acceptable. It may have been ignored, and the victims stigmatised, but for heaven's sake, it's never been acceptable.
And if you believe in karma, reincarnation etc, you ought to be better able to explain it than Bill Roache has managed to do.