The archbishop of Malta Scicluna: "Preti should be able to marry"

Interview by Mark Laurence Zammit published on the Times of Malta website (Malta) "on January 7, 2024, freely translated by www.finesettimana.org

The Archbishop Maltese Charles Scicluna asked for one "Serious discussion" on the secular rule of celibacy. He said that the Church should review its rules to allow Catholic priests to marry.

The times are ripe for "Seriously discuss the question" and "Making decisions about it", he said, adding that he had already spoken openly in the Vatican but recognizing that ultimately he is not deciding for him. "It is probably the first time that I say it publicly and some will seem here", said Archbishop, who is also a respected Vatican official.

“Why should we lose a young man who would have been an excellent priest just because he wanted to get married? And we actually lost good priests just because they chose the wedding ".

The centuries -old presbyteral celibacy rule has been publicly discussed for decades. So far, however, the local ecclesiastical authorities had always defended him, insisting on the fact that the life of a priest must be dedicated exclusively to the Church and his community.

Scicluna has recognized that celibacy has and will continue to have a place in the church, but he said he has learned from the experience that priests should also be given the opportunity to get married, just like in the Catholic churches of the oriental rite. "It was optional for the first millennium of existence of the Church and should return to be", he said.

“A man can mature, have relationships, love a woman. At present, he must choose between her and the presbyterate, and some priests come to the head, secretly engaged in sentimental relationships ". He says it by answering questions about Catholic priests who secretly experience a sentimental relationship as they continue to publicly carry out their task of priests.

Priests who have children

Some of them have had a sentimental relationship for years and others have also secretly had children from those relationships.“This is a global reality, it does not only happen in Malta. We know that there are priests all over the world who have children and I think there are also in Malta ", he said.

The 64 -year -old Archbishop and lawyer is not an ordinary prelate. In addition to directing the church of Malta, it also holds one of the most influential positions in the Vatican. In fact, he is the adding secretary of the Dicastery for the doctrine of faith.

The Roman Catholic Church, in its Latin rite, is the only Christian confession that requires all its priests to be celibate, that is, to refrain from marriage and sexual relationships. But it has not always been like this.

For the first millennium, priests were generally allowed to marry and have children. Only in the twelfth century, the church definitively introduced the rule.

But it is only a rule - not a dogma - and therefore it can be changed. Pope Francis could do it, even if he does not yet seem convinced.

The Vatican went very close to changing the rule in 2019. At the time, the Synod of the bishops voted to vast majority to allow married men of the Amazon region to become priests. This would meet the needs of the Church in that region.

But despite resembling a parliament of bishops, the Synod is not a decision -making authority and the last word on the changes of the rules in the Church is in the hands of the Pope, who has not carried on the change.

The archbishop said, however, that the Pope is right in insisting that this change would not serve to mitigate the crisis of vocations. The vocation has to do with the faith and relationship of a person with God, and the rules should not have changed only to attract more men to the presbyterate or to fill the gaps.

Known in ecclesiastical environments as the most respected expert in Vatican sexual crimes, Scicluna enjoys a reputation respectable among the leaders of the Holy See and is often called by Pope Francis to start investigations on some of the cases of abuse of higher international profile in the Church .

Original text: Watch: Priests Should Have Option to Marry - Archbishop Charles Scicluna