Leading Vatican Archbishop Charles Scicluna says Celibacy for Priests Should be Optional as it is in the Eastern Catholic Rites and as it was Formerly
Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the 64-year-old archbishop and lawyer, who runs the Church in Malta, also serves as Adjunct Secretary of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In an interview with the Time of Malta he explained that the Church should look into revising its rules to allow Catholic priests the option to get married.
The time is ripe to “discuss the issue seriously” and “take decisions on it”, he said, adding that he has already openly spoken about it at the Vatican, but acknowledged it is ultimately not his decision to make.
“Why should we lose a young man who would have made a fine priest, just because he wanted to get married? And we did lose good priests just because they chose marriage.”
It was optional for the first millennium of the Church’s existence and it should become optional again said Archbishop Charles Scicluna
In an interview with Times of Malta this week, Scicluna acknowledged celibacy still has and will continue to have a place in the Church, but said he learnt from experience that priests should also be given the option to marry, just like in Catholic Churches of the Oriental rite.
“A man may mature, engage in relationships, love a woman. As it stands, he must choose between her and priesthood, and some priests cope with that by secretly engaging in sentimental relationships.”
He was fielding questions about Catholic priests who secretly live in a romantic relationship while they publicly continue to serve their duties as priests.
The Roman Catholic Church in its Latin rite is the only Christian religion that requires all its priests to be celibate.
Some of them have been in a committed relationship for years and others even secretly had children from those relationships.
The Roman Catholic Church in its Latin rite is the only Christian religion that requires all its priests to be celibate – to abstain from marriage and sexual relations.
But it was not always like that.
For the first millennium after the death of Jesus, priests were generally allowed to marry and have children. It was in the 12th century that the Church definitively introduced the rule.
But it is merely a rule – not Church dogma – so it can be changed by Pope Francis, although the 87-year-old Pontiff seems yet unconvinced.
The archbishop said, however, that the Pope is right in insisting such a change should not be about mitigating the vocation crisis. Vocation has everything to do with faith and a person’s relationship with God, and the rules should not be changed to merely attract more men to priesthood or to fill in the gaps.
Source: Times of Malta.com
In an interview with the Time of Malta he explained that the Church should look into revising its rules to allow Catholic priests the option to get married.
The time is ripe to “discuss the issue seriously” and “take decisions on it”, he said, adding that he has already openly spoken about it at the Vatican, but acknowledged it is ultimately not his decision to make.
“Why should we lose a young man who would have made a fine priest, just because he wanted to get married? And we did lose good priests just because they chose marriage.”
It was optional for the first millennium of the Church’s existence and it should become optional again said Archbishop Charles Scicluna
In an interview with Times of Malta this week, Scicluna acknowledged celibacy still has and will continue to have a place in the Church, but said he learnt from experience that priests should also be given the option to marry, just like in Catholic Churches of the Oriental rite.
“A man may mature, engage in relationships, love a woman. As it stands, he must choose between her and priesthood, and some priests cope with that by secretly engaging in sentimental relationships.”
He was fielding questions about Catholic priests who secretly live in a romantic relationship while they publicly continue to serve their duties as priests.
The Roman Catholic Church in its Latin rite is the only Christian religion that requires all its priests to be celibate.
Some of them have been in a committed relationship for years and others even secretly had children from those relationships.
The Roman Catholic Church in its Latin rite is the only Christian religion that requires all its priests to be celibate – to abstain from marriage and sexual relations.
But it was not always like that.
For the first millennium after the death of Jesus, priests were generally allowed to marry and have children. It was in the 12th century that the Church definitively introduced the rule.
But it is merely a rule – not Church dogma – so it can be changed by Pope Francis, although the 87-year-old Pontiff seems yet unconvinced.
The archbishop said, however, that the Pope is right in insisting such a change should not be about mitigating the vocation crisis. Vocation has everything to do with faith and a person’s relationship with God, and the rules should not be changed to merely attract more men to priesthood or to fill in the gaps.
Source: Times of Malta.com
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