Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1494946
14 WORLD maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 MARCH 2023 Pope Francis says Catholic Church banning priests from engaging in sex is 'temporary' POPE Francis said the Catho- lic Church's thousand-year-old practice of celibacy could be changed. In a recent interview with an Argentine publication Infobae, Francis said the ban on priests having sex was only "tempo- rary" and that there is "no con- tradiction for a priest to mar- ry." "There is no contradiction for a priest to marry. Celibacy in the western Church is a tempo- rary prescription," Francis said. "It is not eternal like priestly ordination, which is forever whether you like it or not. On the other hand, celibacy is a discipline." The Catholic Church began requiring celibacy in the 11th century because clergy with no children were more like- ly to leave their money to the church. Germany's Catholic Church has voted for a resolution call- ing on Pope Francis to end the celibacy requirement for priests. When the Pope was asked if he believed ending the ban on sex for priests, he said, "Every- one in the Eastern Church is married, or those who want to. Before ordination, there is the choice to marry or to be celi- bate." Francis noted that, before the interview with journalist Dan- iel Hadad, he had met with an Eastern Catholic priest who works in the Roman Curia and that this priest has a wife and son. But his comments reveal a contrast to what he has said in the past regarding celibacy. In 2019, Francis said, "Per- sonally, I think that celibacy is a gift to the Church. I would say that I do not agree with al- lowing optional celibacy." He also said at the time that he believed there may be some exceptions for married clergy in the Latin rite when there is a "pastoral necessity" in remote locations where there are min- imal priests. In the recent interview with Hadad, the Pope further spoke about rising divorce rates, sug- gesting young people some- times get married too early and that their marriages lack mean- ing. He said on the subject of annulments that he looks to remarks his predecessor Bene- dict XVI had made. "A large part of church mar- riages are invalid for lack of faith," Francis said. "Some- times one goes to a wedding, and it seems more like it's a so- cial reception and not a sacra- ment. When young people say forever, who knows what they mean by forever." "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,'" he continued. Pope Francis said the Catholic Church's thousand-year-old practice of celibacy could be changed