The Pope's advisor calls for an end to celibacy
The Archbishop of Malta wants priests to be able to marry. They were allowed to do that, says Charles Scicluna.
Charles Scicluna: “Why should we lose a young man who would have been a good priest just because he wants to get married?”
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Archbishop of Malta, Charles Scicluna, has called for an end to the Catholic Church's strict celibacy rule. The 64-year-old, who is also an advisor to Pope Francis, said in the Times of Malta (Sunday) that priests should be allowed to marry. “If it were up to me, I would change the rules that a priest must be celibate,” Scicluna said. “Why do we lose a young man who could have become a good priest just because he wants to get married?”
Scicluna is president of the bishops' conference on the Mediterranean island of Malta and, since 2018, has also served as assistant secretary in the Vatican's Office for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the most important authorities in the Papal States. There he deals with the scandal of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in different regions of the world.
The archbishop noted in the interview that priests were allowed to marry in the Catholic Church until the 12th century. But even under Pope Francis, the Vatican insists that priests and nuns live strictly by celibacy. This means celibacy and abstinence.
But Francis has already made clear that he can envision essentially abolishing celibacy. He noted in an interview last year that married men are allowed to be priests in the Eastern Catholic Church. The Argentine citizen said: “There is no contradiction in the fact that a priest can marry.” In Europe in particular, there are reform movements within the Church that consider celibacy obsolete.
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