In March, Pope Francis announced that in order to combat the shortage of priestly vocations, he would consider letting married Catholic men into the priesthood. He followed this comment by saying that “for the time being, [he is] in favor of maintaining celibacy with the pros and cons that it has, because it has been ten centuries of good experiences more often than failure.” This comment, however, sparked debates over the necessity for celibacy in the priesthood.
Contrary to popular belief, not all Catholic priests are celibate. Priests from the Eastern Catholic churches can be married, as can married Protestant pastors who convert to Catholicism. Even in these cases, however, there are restrictions. In the Latin Rite, the Western part of the Catholic Church, priestly celibacy was not formally introduced until the Council of Elvira in 304 A.D., in which Canon 33 required “all clergy to abstain from their wives and not to have children.” This was not enforced until Pope Gregory VII’s papacy in the eleventh century. Still, signs of celibacy had been present in the early church since the apostles — some of whom were married — left their families behind to follow Jesus.
The question today, however, is why all the fuss? To better understand the importance of celibacy in the priesthood, we must first understand the role of the priest. St. John Vianney described this role as “a man who holds the place of God — a man who is invested with all the powers of God.” More precisely, a Catholic priest acts in the person of Christ and, in the words of Pope VI, he does not only “participate in His priestly office, but shares His very condition of living.” Jesus was not married, so it follows that a priest who is to share His condition of living will not be married. Furthering this point is the fact that the Church is often described as the Bride of Christ (in Ephesians 5:25-27, Revelation 19:7-9 and Matthew 25:1-46, just to name a few), and seeing as the Catholic priest acts in the person of Christ, he cannot be committed to two brides.
On top of this is the role of “singular sharing in God’s fatherhood,” as Pope John Paul II wrote in Pastores Dabo Vobis. If the spiritual role of a Catholic priest is to nurture his flock as a father would, it would be difficult and conflicting for a man to prioritize the physical and spiritual needs of parishioners to those of his immediate family. It’s only natural for one to be inclined to take care of his own blood before anybody else.
Ultimately, though, what shouldn’t be underestimated are the nobility and purpose of a sacrifice such as celibacy. A vocation such as that of virginity is misunderstood because we live in a world that does not deny itself pleasures; its general goal is to live comfortably. When a man lives his celibate vocation, he shares in Christ’s cross and detaches himself from distracting worldly pleasures to focus on the spiritual. A life like that is not without purpose; it is filled with it and, pulling again from Pastores Dabo Vobis, it is “a genuine sign of and precious service to the love of communion and gift of self to others.”
There will always be exceptions, and the Church has done a fairly good job so far not overlooking them. However, the Church cannot cater to a few exceptions, and maintaining the celibacy of Catholic priests keeps their vocational life closest to what it was intended to be.
Letizia Mariani can be reached at mari8259@stthomas.edu