The Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis, has suggested that Priests could be allowed to have sex in future, saying he was open to reviewing the practice of celibacy.
In an interview published in the Argentinian media last week, Francis said “There is no contradiction for a priest to marry.
Celibacy in the Western Church is a temporary prescription.”
“It is not eternal like priestly ordination, which is forever.”
Celibacy was only made a requirement by the Roman Catholic Church in the 11th century. The move was introduced partly for financial reasons: clergy without spouses were more likely to leave their wealth to the church.
The Vatican currently enforces celibacy among priests, citing the example set by Jesus. But there are growing calls to drop the rule as the Catholic Church deals with the fall-out from child abuse scandals around the world.
The German Synod has just voted on a resolution requesting the Pope to end the obligation for priests to be celibate.
When asked if he would be open to reviewing the requirement, Francis said: “Yes, yes. In fact, everyone in the Eastern Church is married. Or those who want to. There they make a choice. Before ordination there is the choice to marry or to be celibate.”
The Eastern Church is a branch of Catholicism that recognises the authority of the Pope but allows leeway for national traditions and liturgies.
There have been far fewer abuse cases reported against the Eastern Church, which allows priests to marry and includes traditions such as Coptism.
Francis’ openness to reviewing celibacy marks a shift from his position in 2019, when he said: “Personally, I think that celibacy is a gift to the Church. I would say that I do not agree with allowing optional celibacy, no.”
Exceptions in far-flung cases
He added however that exceptions might be made for priests in very far-flung locations.
Germany’s Catholic Church this weekend agreed to a slew of liberalising reforms, including blessing same-sex marriages and allowing women to become deacons, or priestly assistants. The review was launched in 2019 in response to the clerical abuse scandal.
In the interview published on Friday in Argentinian media outlet InfoBae, Francis also addressed the subject of rising divorce, saying that young people were sometimes too hasty to get married.
“Sometimes [one] goes to a wedding and it seems more like it’s a social reception and not a sacrament,” he said. “When young people say forever, who knows what they mean [by] forever.”
He added: “A very wise lady once told me: ‘You priests are very smart. To be ordained priests you have to spend six, seven years in the seminary. On the other hand, to get married, which is for a lifetime — because a priest can leave, on the other hand, for us it is for a lifetime— they give us four meetings.’”