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Clerical celibacy is the discipline within the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
by which only unmarried men are
ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...
to the
episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, to the priesthood (with individual exceptions) in some
autonomous particular Churches A particular church ( la, ecclesia particularis) is an ecclesiastical community of faithful headed by a bishop (or equivalent), as defined by Catholic canon law and ecclesiology. A liturgical rite depends on the particular church the bishop (or eq ...
, and similarly to the
diaconate A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chu ...
(with exceptions for certain categories of people). In other autonomous particular churches, the discipline applies only to the episcopate. The Catholic particular church which principally follows this discipline is the
Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Jo ...
, but among the
Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...
, at least the Ethiopic Catholic Church applies it also. In this context, "
celibacy Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both, usually for religious reasons. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, th ...
" retains its original meaning of "unmarried". Though even the married may observe abstinence from sexual intercourse, the obligation to be celibate is seen as a consequence of the obligation to observe ''perfect and perpetual'' continence for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Advocates see
clerical celibacy Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because thes ...
as "a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can more easily remain close to Christ with an undivided heart, and can dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and their neighbour." In February 2019, the Vatican acknowledged that the policy has not always been enforced and that rules had been secretly established by the Vatican to protect non-celibate clergy who violated their vows of celibacy. Some clergy have also been allowed to retain their clerical state after fathering children. Some Catholic clergy who violated their vows of celibacy also have maintained their clerical status after secretly marrying women. Prefect for the Congregation for Clergy Cardinal
Beniamino Stella Beniamino Stella (born 18 August 1941) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 2013 to 2021; he has been a cardinal since 2014. He began working in the diplomatic service of the Hol ...
also acknowledged that child support and transfer have been two common ways for such clergy to maintain their clerical status.


Description

The Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, in general, rule out ordination of married men to the episcopate, and marriage after priestly ordination. Throughout the Catholic Church, East as well as West, a priest may not marry. In the
Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...
, a married priest is one who married before being ordained. The Catholic Church considers the law of clerical celibacy to be not a ''
doctrine Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief syste ...
'', but a ''discipline''. Exceptions are sometimes made, especially in the case of married male Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant clergy who convert to the Catholic Church, and the discipline could, in theory, be changed for all ordinations to the priesthood.


Theological and scriptural foundations

Theologically, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that priesthood is a ministry conformed to the life and work of
Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...
. Priests as sacramental ministers act ''
in persona Christi ''In persona Christi'' is a Latin phrase meaning "in the person of Christ", an important concept in Roman Catholicism and, in varying degrees, to other Christian traditions, such as Lutheranism and Anglicanism. A priest is ''In persona Christi'' ...
'', that is in the mask of Christ. Thus the life of the priest conforms, the Church believes, to the chastity of Christ himself. The sacrifice of married life is for the "sake of the Kingdom" (, ), and to follow the example of Jesus Christ in being "married" to the Church, viewed by Catholicism and many Christian traditions as the "Bride of Christ" (following and , together with the spousal imagery at ; cf. ). Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later
Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...
) in ''Salt of the Earth'' saw this practice as based on Jesus' words in : "Some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it." He linked this celibacy "because of the kingdom of heaven" with God's choice to confer the Old Testament priesthood on a specific tribe, that of Levi, which unlike the other tribes received no land from God, but which had "God himself as its inheritance" (). Paul, within a context of having "no command from the Lord" (1 Cor 7:25), recommends celibacy, but acknowledges that it is not God's gift to all within the church: "For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am, ... I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord. But he who is married cares about the things of the world—how he may please his wife. There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband. And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction" (, ). Peter Brown and
Bart D. Ehrman Bart Denton Ehrman (born 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, includin ...
speculate that for early Christians celibacy had to do with the "imminent end of the age" ().


Historical origins

In the earliest years of the church, the clergy were largely married men. C. K. Barrett points to 1 Cor 9:5 as clearly indicating that "apostles, like other Christians, have a right to be (and many of them are) married" and the right for their wife to be "maintained by the communities in which they
he apostles He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
are working." However, Paul himself was celibate at the time of his ministry, and there is no consensus that inclusion among the requirements for candidacy to the office of "overseer" of being "the husband of one wife" meant that celibate Christians were excluded. Studies by some Catholic scholars, such as the Ukrainian Roman Cholij and Christian Cochini, have argued for the theory that, in early Christian practice, married men who became priests—they were often older men, "elders"—were expected to live in complete continence, refraining permanently from sexual relations with their wives.BONIVENTO, Cesare
Priestly Celibacy. Ecclesiastical Institution or Apostolic Tradition?
; Thomas McGover

Cochini, Christian, ''The Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy'', Ignatius Press (October 1990). .

Celibacy in the Early Church
The Beginnings of Obligatory Continence for Clerics in East and West'', Stefan Heid, p. 15.
When at a later stage it was clear that not all did refrain, the Western Church limited ordination to unmarried men and required a commitment to lifelong celibacy, while the Eastern Churches relaxed the rule, so that Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches now require their married clergy to abstain from sexual relations only for a limited period before celebrating the Eucharist. The Church in Persia, which in the fifth century became separated from the Church described as Orthodox or Catholic, decided at the end of that century to abolish the rule of continence and allow priests to marry, but recognized that it was abrogating an ancient tradition. The
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...
, whose separation, along with the
Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي� ...
, came slightly later, allows
deacons A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
(who are ordained when they are boys) to marry after ordination, but not priests: any future priests who wish to marry must do so before becoming priests. The
Armenian Apostolic Church , native_name_lang = hy , icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg , icon_width = 100px , icon_alt = , image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , a ...
, which also belongs to
Oriental Orthodoxy The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent ...
, while technically prohibiting, like the
Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
, marriage after ordination to the sub-diaconate, has generally let this rule fall into disuse and allows deacons to marry up to the point of their priestly ordination, thus continuing to maintain the traditional exclusion of marriage by those who are priests. This theory would explain why all the ancient Christian Churches of both East and West, with the one exception mentioned, exclude marriage after priestly ordination, and why all reserve the episcopate (seen as a fuller form of priesthood than the presbyterate) for the celibate. Some Catholic scholars, such as Jesuits Peter Fink and George T. Dennis of Catholic University of America, have argued that we cannot know if priests in early Christianity practised sexual abstinence. Dennis says "there is simply no clear evidence of a general tradition or practice, much less of an obligation, of priestly celibacy-continence before the beginning of the fourth century." Fink says that a primary book used to support apostolic origins of priestly celibacy "remains a work of interpretation. There are underlying premises that seem to hold firm in this book but which would not stand up so comfortably to historical scrutiny." The earliest textual evidence of the forbidding of marriage to clerics and the duty of those already married to abstain from sexual contact with their wives is in the fourth-century decrees of the
Synod of Elvira The Synod of Elvira ( la, Concilium Eliberritanum, es, Concilio de Elvira) was an ecclesiastical synod held at Elvira in the Roman province of Hispania Baetica, now Granada in southern Spain.. Its date has not been exactly determined but is belie ...
and the later Council of Carthage (390). According to some writers, this presumed a previous norm, which was being flouted in practice. * Synod of Elvira (c. 305) : (Canon 33): "It is decided that marriage be altogether prohibited to bishops, priests, and deacons, or to all clerics placed in the ministry, and that they keep away from their wives and not beget children; whoever does this shall be deprived of the honor of the clerical office." * Council of Carthage (390) : (Canon 3): "It is fitting that the holy bishops and priests of God as well as the
Levite Levites (or Levi) (, he, ''Lǝvīyyīm'') are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew de ...
s, i.e. those who are in the service of the divine sacraments, observe perfect continence, so that they may obtain in all simplicity what they are asking from God; what the Apostles taught and what antiquity itself observed, let us also endeavour to keep.... It pleases us all that bishop, priest and deacon, guardians of purity, abstain from conjugal intercourse with their wives, so that those who serve at the altar may keep a perfect chastity." Among the early Church statements on the topic of sexual continence and celibacy are the ''
Directa The ''Directa'' decretal was written by Pope Siricius in February AD 385. It took the form of a long letter to Spanish bishop Himerius of Tarragona replying to the bishop’s requests for ''directa'' on various subjects sent several months earlier ...
'' and ''Cum in unum'' decretals of
Pope Siricius Pope Siricius (334 – 26 November 399) was the bishop of Rome from December 384 to his death. In response to inquiries from Bishop Himerius of Tarragona, Siricius issued the ''Directa'' decretal, containing decrees of baptism, church discipline ...
(c. 385), which asserted that clerical sexual abstinence was an apostolic practice that must be followed by ministers of the church. The writings of Saint
Ambrose Ambrose of Milan ( la, Aurelius Ambrosius; ), venerated as Saint Ambrose, ; lmo, Sant Ambroeus . was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promot ...
(died 397) also show that the requirement that priests, whether married or celibate, should be continent was the established rule. To the married clergy who, "in some out-of-the-way places", claimed, on the model of the Old Testament priesthood, the right to father children, he recalled that in Old Testament times even lay people were obliged to observe continence on the days leading to a sacrifice, and commented: "If such regard was paid in what was only the figure, how much ought it to be shown in the reality!" Yet more sternly he wrote: "(Saint Paul) spoke of one who ''has'' children, not of one who ''begets'' children."


Medieval Christendom

Beyond the fact that clerical celibacy functioned as a spiritual discipline, it also was guarantor of the independence of the Church and of its essential dimension as a spiritual institution ordered toward ends beyond the competence and authority of temporal rulers. During the
decline of the Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vas ...
, Roman authority in western Europe completely collapsed. However, the city of Rome, under the guidance of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
, still remained a centre of learning and did much to preserve classical Roman culture in Western Europe. The classical heritage flourished throughout the Middle Ages in both the Byzantine Greek East and the Latin West. Philosopher
Will Durant William James Durant (; November 5, 1885 – November 7, 1981) was an American writer, historian, and philosopher. He became best known for his work '' The Story of Civilization'', which contains 11 volumes and details the history of eastern a ...
argues that certain prominent features of Plato's ideal community were discernible in the organization, dogma and effectiveness of the medieval Church in Europe: In his book ''The Ruling Class'',
Gaetano Mosca Gaetano Mosca (; 1 April 1858 – 8 November 1941) was an Italian political scientist, journalist and public servant. He is credited with developing the elite theory and the doctrine of the political class and is one of the three members cons ...
wrote of the medieval Church and its structure: It is sometimes claimed that celibacy became mandatory for Latin Church priests only in the eleventh century; but others say, for instance: "(I)t may fairly be said that by the time of St. Leo the Great (440–61) the law of celibacy was generally recognized in the West," and that the eleventh-century regulations on this matter, as on
simony Simony () is the act of selling church offices and roles or sacred things. It is named after Simon Magus, who is described in the Acts of the Apostles as having offered two disciples of Jesus payment in exchange for their empowering him to i ...
, should obviously not be interpreted as meaning that either non-celibacy or simony were previously permitted. However there is abundant documentation that up to 12th century many priests in Europe were married and that their sons would often follow their path which made the reforms difficult to implement.


Reformation period

Celibacy as a requirement for ordination to the priesthood (in the Western Church) and to the episcopate (in East as well as in West) and declaring marriages of priests invalid (in both East and West) were important points of disagreement during the
Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...
, with the Reformers arguing that these requirements were contrary to Biblical teaching in , , and , and implied a degradation of marriage, and were one reason for "many abominations"Catholic historian
Ludwig von Pastor Ludwig Pastor, later Ludwig von Pastor, Freiherr von Campersfelden (31 January 1854 – 30 September 1928), was a German historian and a diplomat for Austria. He became one of the most important Roman Catholic historians of his time and is most no ...
's ''The history of the popes, from the close of the Middle Ages'' (1891)
vol. V
: ''Corruption of the Italian Clergy of all Ranks'', 169ff.; ''Fra Girolama Savonarola'' 181ff. likewise did not attribute to clerical celibacy the need for reform that was one of the reasons for holding the
Council of Trent The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described a ...
.
and for widespread sexual misconduct within the clergy at the time of the Reformation. The doctrinal view of the Reformers on this point was reflected in the marriages of Zwingli in 1522, Luther in 1525, and Calvin in 1539; in England, the married
Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Hen ...
was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533. Both of these actions, marriage after ordination to the priesthood and consecration of a married man as a bishop, went against the long-standing tradition of the Church in the East as well as in the West. In the
Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...
, a
Lutheran Church Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
, the vow of clerical celibacy, along with vowing fidelity to a motherhouse and a life of poverty, was required of deaconesses until the 1960s; this vow of celibacy was made optional and deacons/deaconesses in the Church of Sweden may be married in present-day practice.


Celibacy in the present-day Church


Celibacy of deacons

Following recommendations made at the Second Vatican Council, the Latin Church now admits married men of mature age to ordination as
deacons A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
, to remain permanently as deacons and not as part of the process by which aspirants are temporarily deacons on their way to priestly ordination. The change was effected by
Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...
's motu proprio ''Sacrum diaconatus ordinem'' of 18 June 1967. A candidate for ordination to the permanent diaconate must have reached the age of 25 if unmarried or the age of 35 if married (or higher if established by the
Conference of Bishops An episcopal conference, sometimes called a conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to ...
), and must have the written consent of his wife. Ordination even to the diaconate is an impediment to a later marriage (for example, if a man who was already married by the time of ordination to the diaconate subsequently becomes a widower), though special dispensation can be received for remarriage under extenuating circumstances.


Celibacy of priests


Debate on celibacy of priests

Garry Wills Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934) is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Genera ...
, in his book ''Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit'', argued that the imposition of celibacy among Catholic priests played a pivotal role in the cultivation of the Church as one of the most influential institutions in the world. In his discussion concerning the origins of the said policy, Wills mentioned that the Church drew its inspiration from the ascetics, monks who devote themselves to meditation and total abstention from earthly wealth and pleasures in order to sustain their corporal and spiritual purity, after seeing that its initial efforts in propagating the faith were fruitless. The rationale behind such strict policy is that it significantly helps the priests perform well in their religious services while at the same time following the manner in which Jesus Christ lived his life. Moreover, the author also mentioned that although the said policy insists on helping priests focus more on ecclesiastical duties, it also enabled the Church to control the wealth amassed by the clerics through their various religious activities, hence contributing to the growing power of the institution. The Latin Church discipline continues to be debated for a variety of reasons. First, many believe celibacy was not required of the apostles. Peter himself had a wife at some time, whose mother Jesus healed of a high fever. An
1 Corinthians 9:5
is commonly interpreted as saying that years later, Peter and other apostles were accompanied by their wives. However, on the basis especially of , others think the apostles left their wives, and that the women mentioned in 1 Corinthians as accompanying some apostles were "holy women, who, in accordance with Jewish custom, ministered to their teachers of their substance, as we read was the practice with even our Lord himself." Second, this requirement excludes a great number of otherwise qualified men from the priesthood, qualifications which according to the defenders of celibacy should be determined not by merely human hermeneutics but by the hermeneutics of the divine. Supporters of clerical celibacy answer that God only calls men to the priesthood if they are capable. Those who are not called to the priesthood should seek other paths in life since they will be able to serve God better there. Therefore, to the supporters of celibacy no one who is called is excluded. Third, some say that resisting the natural sexual impulse in this way is unrealistic and harmful for a healthy life. Sexual scandals among priests, especially homosexuality and pedophilia, the defenders say, are a breach of the Church's discipline, not a result of it, especially since only a small percentage of priests have been involved. Fourth, it is said that mandatory celibacy distances priests from this experience of life, compromising their
moral authority Moral authority is authority premised on principles, or fundamental truths, which are independent of written, or positive, laws. As such, moral authority necessitates the existence of and adherence to truth. Because truth does not change, the princi ...
in the pastoral sphere, although its defenders argue that the Church's moral authority is rather enhanced by a life of total self-giving in imitation of Christ, a practical application of the Vatican II teaching that "man cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself." In 1970, nine German theologians, including
Joseph Ratzinger Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
(the future Pope Benedict XVI), signed a letter calling for a new discussion of the law of celibacy, though refraining from making a statement as to whether the law of celibacy should in fact be changed. In 2011, hundreds of German, Austrian, and Swiss theologians (249 as of 15 February 2011) signed a letter calling for married priests, as well as for women in Church ministry.


Since the Second Vatican Council

During and after the Council, the
Magisterium The magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church is the church's authority or office to give authentic interpretation of the Word of God, "whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition." According to the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Chu ...
of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
has repeatedly re-affirmed the permanent value of the discipline of obligatory clerical celibacy in the
Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Jo ...
. Pope John Paul II wrote in 1992: He added that the "unchanging" essence of ordination "configures the priest to Jesus Christ the Head and Spouse of the Church." Thus, he said, "The Church, as the Spouse of Jesus Christ, wishes to be loved by the priest in the total and exclusive manner in which Jesus Christ her Head and Spouse loved her." There has never been any doubt, however, that it is an ecclesiastical discipline, as the Council Fathers explicitly recognised when they stated that "it is not demanded by the very nature of the priesthood." Pope John Paul II took up this theme when he said at a public audience on 17 July 1993 that celibacy "does not belong to the essence of priesthood." He went on to speak of its aptness for, and its congruence with, the requirements of sacred orders, asserting that the discipline "enters into the logic of riestlyconsecration." Yet some commentators have argued for the possibility that married men of proven seriousness and maturity (''viri probati'', taking up a phrase which appears in the first-century
First Epistle of Clement The First Epistle of Clement ( grc, Κλήμεντος πρὸς Κορινθίους, Klēmentos pros Korinthious, Clement to Corinthians) is a letter addressed to the Christians in the city of Corinth. Based on internal evidence some scholars sa ...
in a different context) might be ordained to a localized and modified form of the priesthood. The topic of ''viri probati'' was raised by some participants in discussions at Ordinary General Assembly XI of the Synod of Bishops held at the Vatican in October 2005 on the theme of the Eucharist, but it was rejected as a solution for the insufficiency of priests.


Pope Francis

Pope Francis shared his views on celibacy, and the possibility of church discussion on the topic, when he was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, recorded in the book '' On Heaven and Earth'', a record of conversations conducted with a Buenos Aires rabbi.Gibson, David
"Book reveals new pope's views on celibacy, abuse, crisis"
''USA Today'' (from Religion News Service), 20 March 2013, Retrieved 21 March 2013
He commented that celibacy "is a matter of discipline, not of faith. It can change" but added: "For the moment, I am in favor of maintaining celibacy, with all its pros and cons, because we have ten centuries of good experiences rather than failures.... Tradition has weight and validity."Connor, Tracy
"Pope Francis spoke of being 'dazzled' by girl, possible change of celibacy rule"
worldnews.nbcnews.com, 21 March 2013, Retrieved 21 March 2013
He said that now the rule must be strictly adhered to, and any priest who cannot obey it "has to leave the ministry." ''
National Catholic Reporter The ''National Catholic Reporter'' (''NCR'') is a progressive national newspaper in the United States that reports on issues related to the Catholic Church. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, ''NCR'' was founded by Robert Hoyt in 1964. Hoyt want ...
'' Vatican analyst, Jesuit
Thomas J. Reese Thomas J. Reese, (born 1945) is an American Catholic Jesuit priest, author, and journalist. He is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magaz ...
, called Bergoglio's use of "conditional language" regarding the rule of celibacy "remarkable." He said that phrases like "for the moment" and "for now" are "not the kind of qualifications one normally hears when bishops and cardinals discuss celibacy." In a conversation with Bishop Erwin Krautler about mandatory celibacy on 4 April 2014, the Pope also spoke about a possible mechanism for a change starting with national bishop conferences. These conferences would
seek and find consensus on reform and we should then bring up our suggestions for reform in Rome. ...The pope explained that he could not take everything in hand personally from Rome. We local bishops, who are best acquainted with the needs of our faithful, should be ‘corajudos,’ that is ‘courageous’ in Spanish, and make concrete suggestions.... It was up to the bishops to make suggestions, the pope said again.
In 2018 Francis showed that he wanted the topic discussed, beginning with remote areas like
Amazonia The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...
that have a shortage of priests. In October 2018,
Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
Catholic bishop conference supported married priests. Different German catholic bishops like
Ulrich Neymeyr Ulrich Neymeyr (born 12 August 1957 in Worms-Herrnsheim) is a German Roman-Catholic bishop. Life In Mainz, Neymeyr studied Roman Catholic theology and philosophy at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. He became on June 12, 1982 priest. On 20 F ...
(
Roman Catholic Diocese of Erfurt The Diocese of Erfurt is a diocese of the Catholic church in Germany. The diocese was created in 1973 as the apostolic administration of Erfurt-Meiningen, and was elevated in 1994 to the current diocese of Erfurt. The diocese is a suffragan of th ...
),
Reinhard Marx Reinhard Marx (born 21 September 1953) is a German cardinal of the Catholic Church. He serves as the Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Pope Benedict XVI elevated Marx to the cardinalate in a consistory in 2010. Biography Born in Geseke, No ...
(
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising (german: Erzbistum München und Freising, la, Archidioecesis Monacensis et Frisingensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Bavaria, Germany.
), Peter Kohlgraf (
Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz The Diocese of Mainz, historically known in English as ''Mentz'' as well as by its French name ''Mayence'', is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It was founded in 304, promoted in 780 to Metrop ...
),
Helmut Dieser Helmut Dieser (born March 15, 1962 in Neuwied) is a German Roman Catholic bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aachen. Life Dieser studied Roman Catholic theology and philosophy in Trier and Tübingen. On 8 July 1989 Dieser became priest. O ...
(
Roman Catholic Diocese of Aachen The Diocese of Aachen is one of 27 dioceses in Germany and one of the six dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Cologne. The incumbent bishop is Helmut Dieser, who was appointed by Pope Francis on 23 September 2016. The bishop's seat is Aa ...
),
Franz Jung Franz Josef Johannes Konrad Jung (26 November 1888, Neisse, Upper Silesia – 21 January 1963, Stuttgart) was a writer, economist and political activist in Germany. He also wrote under the names Franz Larsz and Frank Ryberg. He grew up in Neisse ...
(
Roman Catholic Diocese of Würzburg The Diocese of Würzburg is a diocese of Catholic Church in Germany. The diocese is located in Lower Franconia, around the city of Würzburg, and the bishop is seated at Würzburg Cathedral. Founded in 741, the diocese lost all temporal power af ...
), Franz-Josef Overbeck (
Roman Catholic Diocese of Essen The Diocese of Essen is a bishopric of the Catholic Church in Germany, founded on 1 January 1958. The Bishop of Essen is seated in Essen Cathedral (''Essener Dom'' or ''Essener Münster''), once the church of Essen Abbey, and over one thousand ye ...
) and
Karl-Heinz Wiesemann Karl-Heinz Wiesemann (born 1 August 1960) is the 96th Bishop of Speyer. Life Wiesemann was born in Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia in the archdiocese of Paderborn. He became a chaplain on 10 October 1985 in Rome. He later served as a priest ...
(
Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer The Diocese of Speyer (lat. Dioecesis Spirensis) is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. The diocese is located in the South of the Rhineland-Palatinate and comprises also the Saarpfalz district in the east of the Saarland. The bishop' ...
) support exceptions from clerical celibacy for priests. Also German bishop
Georg Bätzing Georg Bätzing (born 13 April 1961) is a German Catholic theologian who has been Bishop of Limburg since 2016 and chairman of the German Bishops' Conference since March 2020. Early life and career Bätzing was born in Kirchen and grew up in N ...
(
Roman Catholic Diocese of Limburg The Diocese of Limburg ( Latin: ''Dioecesis Limburgensis'') is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Cologne, with metropolitan see being the Archdiocese of Cologne. Its territory encompass ...
) said, there should be also married priests in Roman Catholic Church. The same opinion was also expressed by German bishop Gerhard Feige (
Roman Catholic Diocese of Magdeburg The Diocese of Magdeburg is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, located in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Its seat is Magdeburg; it is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Paderborn. The Diocese was erected out of Paderborn te ...
) in February 2019 and German bishop
Heiner Wilmer Heiner Wilmer, SCJ (born 9 April 1961, in Schapen) is a German Catholic prelate who has served as the Bishop of Hildesheim since 2018. He was formerly the superior general of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehonians). ...
(
Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim The Diocese of Hildesheim (Latin: ''Dioecesis Hildesiensis'') is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. Founded in 815 as a missionary diocese by King Louis the Pious, his son Louis the German appointed the famous former archbishop of Rhei ...
) in February 2019. In March 2019, German bishop
Stefan Oster Stefan Oster S.D.B. (born 3 June 1965) is a German bishop of the Catholic Church who has served as the Bishop of Passau since 2014. Though among the youngest and least senior German bishops, he has taken a large role in the German Church's debates ...
( Roman Catholic Diocese of Passau) said, there can be also married priests in Roman Catholic Church. In
Lingen Lingen (), officially Lingen (Ems), is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. In 2008, its population was 52,353, and in addition there were about 5,000 people who registered the city as their secondary residence. Lingen, specifically "Lingen (Ems)" is ...
the German catholic bishops started a reformgroup under leadership of bishop
Felix Genn Felix Genn (born 6 March 1950) is a German bishop of the Catholic Church who is currently the Bishop of Münster. Previously, he was the Bishop of Essen and, prior to that, was an Auxiliary Bishop of Trier. Since 2013, he has been a member of the ...
(
Roman Catholic Diocese of Münster The Diocese of Münster is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany.
) to talk over a reform of clercial celibacy for priests and if married priests should also be allowed. In April 2019, Austrian bishop
Christoph Schönborn Christoph Maria Michael Hugo Damian Peter Adalbert Graf von Schönborn, O.P. (; born 22 January 1945) is a Bohemian-born Austrian Dominican friar and theologian, who is a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He serves as the Archbishop of Vienna and ...
( Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna) said, there can be clerical celibacy priests and also married priests in Roman Catholic Church. In June 2019, German bishop Franz-Josef Bode (
Roman Catholic Diocese of Osnabrück The Diocese of Osnabrück is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic church in Germany.
) said, there can be clerical celibacy priests and also married priests in Roman Catholic Church. In December 2019, German bishop Heinrich Timmerevers answered also, there can be married priests in Catholic Church. In November 2019, the ''Amazonassynode'' in Rome voted by 128 to 41 votes in favour for married priests in Latin America. Following the synod, Pope Francis rejected the proposal in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation ''Querida Amazonia.''


Exceptions to the rule of priestly celibacy

Exceptions to the rule of celibacy for priests of the Latin Church are sometimes granted by authority of the Pope, when married Protestant clergy become Catholic. Thus married
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
s have been ordained to the Catholic priesthood in
personal ordinariate A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"...the liturgies approved for the Anglican ordinariates..." "Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." i ...
s and through the United States
Pastoral Provision The Pastoral Provision is a set of practices and norms in the Catholic Church in the United States, by which bishops are authorized to provide spiritual care for Catholics converting from the Anglican tradition, by establishing parishes for them an ...
. Because the rule of celibacy is an
ecclesiastical law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is t ...
and not a doctrine, it can, in principle, be changed at any time by the Pope. Nonetheless, both
Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...
and his predecessors have spoken clearly of their understanding that the traditional practice was not likely to change.''Catholic Encyclopedia'',
Celibacy of the Clergy
.
Father Richard McBrien, a controversial voice within the Church, argued that the existence of these exceptions, coupled with a declining number of priests in active ministry (per McBrien's North America and in Europe) and reported cases of non-observance of the norm will keep the subject in the spotlight. However, the number of priests worldwide has been increased from about 405,000 in 1995 to 415,000 in 2016, reversing the previous downward tendency from about 420,000 in 1970 to 403,000 in 1990.


Lack of enforcement

Despite the Latin Church's historical practice of priestly celibacy, there have been Catholic priests throughout the centuries who have engaged in sexual relations through the practice of
concubinage Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubin ...
. One notable example was former
EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in ...
priest Francis Mary Stone, who was also revealed to have privately maintained his clerical status after violating his vow of celibacy and also fathering a child with an employee at EWTN when he was serving as a host of the network's show ''Life on the Rock''. After these revelations were made public, Stone was at first only suspended from public ministry. He was later accused of sexually abusing the son he fathered with this employee, but was later acquitted. By 2018, it was reported that Stone was still only suspended from his religious order and was not yet acknowledged to have been removed. On 18 February 2019, the Vatican acknowledged that the celibacy policy has not always been enforced. Some of the Catholic clergy who violated their vow of celibacy had also fathered children as well. It was also revealed that during the course of history, rules were secretly established by the Vatican to protect clergy who had violated the celibacy policy, including those who fathered children. Some people who were fathered by Catholic clergy also made themselves public as well. In an interview with Vatican News editor Andrea Tornielli on 27 February 2019, Prefect of Congregation of the Clergy
Beniamino Stella Beniamino Stella (born 18 August 1941) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 2013 to 2021; he has been a cardinal since 2014. He began working in the diplomatic service of the Hol ...
revealed that his Congregation manages matters concerning priests who violate their vows of celibacy. Regarding violation of the celibacy policy, Stella stated "In such cases there are, unfortunately, Bishops and Superiors who think that, after having provided economically for the children, or after having transferred the priest, the cleric could continue to exercise the ministry." Some clergy who violated the celibacy policy, which also forbids marriage for clergy who did not convert from the Protestant faiths, such as Lutheranism or Anglicanism, have also maintained their clerical status after marrying women in secret. One example was shown in the Diocese of Greensburg in
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, where a priest maintained his clerical status after marrying a girl he impregnated. In 2012, Kevin Lee, a priest in Australia, revealed that he had maintained his clerical status after being secretly married for a full year and that church leaders were aware of his secret marriage, but disregarded the celibacy policy. The same year, it was revealed that former Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop
Gabino Zavala Gabino Zavala (born September 7, 1951) is a Mexican-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Zavala served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles from 1994 until 2012. Zavala resigned at the request of Pope Benedi ...
had privately fathered two children and had "more than a passing relationship" with their mother, who had two separate pregnancies, before he resigned from his post as Auxiliary Bishop and from the Catholic clergy.


Eastern Catholic churches

In general, the
Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...
allow ordination of married men as priests. Within the lands of the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , native_name_lang = uk , caption_background = , image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG , imagewidth = , type = Particular church (sui iuris) , alt = , caption = St. George's ...
, the largest Eastern Rite Catholic Church, priests' children often became priests and married within their social group, establishing a tightly-knit hereditary caste.Orest Subtelny. (1988). ''Ukraine: A History.'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp.214-219. In North America, by the provisions of the decree ''Cum data fuerit'', and for fear that married priests would create scandal among Latin Church Catholics, Eastern Catholic bishops were directed to ordain only unmarried men. This ban, which some bishops determined to be null in various circumstances or at times or simply decided not to enforce, was finally rescinded by a decree of June 2014. Similarly, the
Maronite Church The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic ''sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. Th ...
does not demand celibacy vows from its deacons or parish priests; their monks, however, are celibate, as well as their bishops who are normally selected from celibate priests and sometimes from the monasteries. The current Patriarch of the Maronite Church is originally a monk in the Mariamite Maronite Order. A condition for becoming an Eastern Catholic bishop is to be unmarried or a widower.


See also

*
Children of the Ordained Children of the ordained is a term the Vatican uses to describe the offspring of ordained Catholic priests who have taken a vow of clerical celibacy. The children are a "result of affairs involving priests and laywomen or nuns – others of abuse ...
*
Clerical marriage Clerical marriage is practice of allowing Christian clergy (those who have already been ordained) to marry. This practice is distinct from allowing married persons to become clergy. Clerical marriage is admitted among Protestants, including both A ...
* Christian
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...
s, religious sisters and
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
s make vows of celibacy. *
List of sexually active popes This is a list of sexually active popes, Catholic priests who were not celibate before they became pope, and popes who were legally married, while people under holy orders are usually required to be celibate. Some candidates were sexually active b ...


References


Further reading


''Priestly Celibacy Today''
��book by Thomas McGovern

��Roman Cholij
Priestly Celibacy. Ecclesiastical Institution or Apostolic Tradition?
��Cesare Bonivento
The Case for Clerical Celibacy:Its Historical Development and Theological Foundations
��Alfons Stickler

��Fr. Anthony Zimmerman, STD
''The Ancient Tradition of Clerical Celibacy''
��Mary R. Schneider (Ignatius Press)

��by Br. Anthony Opisso, M.D.
Francis Speaks, Scalfari Transcribes, Brandmüller Shreds
��by Sandro Magister
"Why Does the Catholic Church Insist on Celibacy?" by Rafael Domingo


External links



��Pope Paul VI

��Congregation for the Clergy {{Latin Church footer Catholic canon law of persons Catholic canon law of religious Clerical celibacy Major orders in the Catholic Church Sacramental law