Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who also serves as an adjunct secretary of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, says the Catholic Church has lost “good priests just because they chose marriage.”
Speaking to the Times of Malta, the archbishop said, “Why should we lose a young man who would have made a fine priest, just because he wanted to get married?” Scicluna said priestly celibacy was optional for the first millennium of the Church’s existence, “and it should become optional again.”
Although priestly celibacy is mandated in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, it is allowed in the vast majority of the Eastern Rites, where celibacy is still mandated for bishops. Even in the Western churches, there are some married priests, such as when married protestant clergy convert to Catholicism and are allowed to be ordained priests. Previously married men can also be ordained, if the marriage is annulled or the wife has died.
The Malta archbishop was answering a question from the newspaper about Catholic priests who secretly live in a romantic relationship while they publicly continue to serve their duties as priests.
“A man may mature, engage in relationships, love a woman. As it stands, he must choose between her and priesthood, and some priests cope with that by secretly engaging in sentimental relationships,” he said.
“This is a global reality; it doesn’t just happen in Malta. We know there are priests around the world who also have children, and I think there are ones in Malta who may have too,” Scicluna added.