The Roman Catholic Church should “think seriously” about allowing priests to marry, said Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta and assistant secretary of the Holy See dicastery for the doctrine of the faith, in an interview granted to the newspaper “Times of Malta”.
“If it were up to me, I would revise the rule requiring celibacy for priests,” said Mgr. Charles Scicluna, Archbishop of Malta and assistant secretary of the Holy See dicastery for the doctrine of the faith, in a interview given to the Times of Malta newspaper on January 7. “Experience has shown me that this is a subject that we must address seriously. » According to the senior Vatican official , “the Church has lost great priests because they chose marriage” and the celibacy of priests forces a certain number of priests to “come to terms with a secret romantic relationship”.
Although he recognizes that “there is room for celibacy in the Church”, Mgr Charles Scicluna believes that we must “take into consideration the fact that it sometimes happens to priests to fall in love and to be forced to choose between that and their vocation. » Considering that the Roman Catholic Church “should take inspiration from the Eastern Rite Catholic churches” in which priests have the possibility of marriage, he also recalls that celibacy “was optional during the first millennium of the existence of the ‘Church, and it should become one again.’ And the latter concludes: “This is probably the first time that I have declared this publicly, and it will seem heretical in the eyes of some…”
A recurring question
In his message addressed to French seminarians gathered in Paris at the beginning of December, Pope Francis notably recalled that celibacy was “at the heart” of the priest’s identity. “The priest is single – and he wants to be – because Jesus was, quite simply. The requirement for celibacy is not primarily theological, but mystical,” he writes, before paraphrasing the Gospel: “Understand who can! » The recent remarks of the Pope and this new position of Mgr Scicluna particularly resonate as this question regularly comes up in debates within the Catholic Church.
In its summary report published at the end of October, the members of the Synod for Synodality meeting in Rome for a month chose to postpone this question. The question of the “disciplinary obligation” of priestly celibacy was raised there, especially concerning regions where “the ecclesial and cultural contexts make it more difficult”. But this theme “requires to be taken up later”, underlined the report. With 55 votes against, this question was one of the least consensual among the participants in the Synod. The report emphasized “the prophecy-laden value and witness of conformation to Christ” brought by priestly celibacy. He also expressed the “gratitude” of the participants in the Synod towards deacons and priests, “who can experience solitude and isolation”. Finally, Christian communities were asked to support them through “prayer, friendship, collaboration”.
Archbishop Scicluna was ordained a priest in 1986 for the Archdiocese of Malta. After a doctorate in canon law completed at the Gregorian University under the direction of the future Cardinal Burke, he then entered the service of the Roman Curia in 1995. He became known in particular for his 2005 investigation, carried out at the request of Cardinal Ratzinger, on the abuses committed by the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Marcial Maciel, and which led to his sidelining. Mgr Scicluna was also the architect of the strengthening of mechanisms to combat abuse, in particular with the universal standards of 2010 extending limitation periods and integrating child pornography among sexual offenses.
