“If it were up to me…”: this senior Vatican official is in favor of marriage for priests

L'Eglise est divisée sur la question. MAXPPP – Marie Docher

L'Église catholique romaine devrait "réfléchir sérieusement" à la possibilité d'autoriser les prêtres à se marier, déclare un haut responsable du Vatican et conseiller du pape François dans une interview publiée dimanche 7 janvier. 

"This is probably the first time I have said this publicly and it will seem heretical to some people,'Archbishop Charles told the Times of Malta Scicluna of Malta, who is also assistant secretary in the Vatican doctrinal office.

Pope Francis has ruled out any possibility of changing the rule requiring priests to remain celibate. However, this is not a formal doctrine of the Church and could therefore be modified by a future pope. A Vatican spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Many "high priests lost"

Charles Scicluna, known for his investigations into sexual abuse, recalled that priests were allowed to marry in the first millennium of Church history and that marriage is possible today in the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church.

"If it were up to me, I would revise the requirement that priests be celibate,” he said. "Experience has shown me that this is something we need to seriously think about."

The Church has "lost many high priests because'they chose marriage", he considered. The debate over the marriage of Catholic priests has lasted for centuries. Priests are permitted to marry according to the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church as well as within the Orthodox, Protestant and Anglican Churches.

Supporters of celibacy believe that it allows a priest to devote himself entirely to the Church. In 2021, Pope Francis rejected a proposal to allow some elderly married men to be ordained in remote areas of the Amazon where in some places the faithful only see a priest. #39;once a year.