Should priestly celibacy be optional?

Celibacy would dilute the original marrow of the priesthood for which the imitation of Christ is an imperative

Spanish Catholics would like to tell Pope Francis, among other things, to reconsider optional celibacy. In preparation for the 2023 Synod of Bishops in Rome, the Episcopal Conference of Spain will present to the Vatican the fruit of their nationwide pre-synodal consultations, which engaged for several months more than 215,000 laypeople, priests, religious and bishops.

The final document produced by that pre-synodal process will detail certain proposals, one of which has something to do with the “future of the priesthood … a need to discern in greater depth about the question of optional celibacy for priests and the ordination of married people.”

In February, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop Heiner Koch of Berlin and Bishop Georg Bätzing, head of the German bishops’ conference, separately announced that priests should be allowed to marry.

“For some priests, it would be better if they were married. Not just for sexual reasons but because it would be better for their lives and they wouldn’t be so lonely,” said Cardinal Marx, to which Archbishop Koch and Bishop Bätzing agreed. The latter added that “the celibacy of priests is a biblically attested form of following Jesus … but not the only form, at least not in the Catholic Church.”

We recall that Pope St. Paul VI extolled the gift of clerical celibacy and upheld its sacred tradition in his 1967 Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, but it did not stop more than 40,000 men from leaving the priesthood worldwide, many of them suffering from identity crises brought about by the Vatican II changes.

Then came the sex abuse scandal that further diminished priestly vocations, leading to the shortage of priests and priestless parishes.

Ordained ministers know deep in their hearts that the most fundamental rationale in the practice of perpetual continence is the imitation of Christ — the true son of Adam, virgin, celibate and chaste

In November 2019, the Amazon Synod in Rome voted 128 to 41 in favor of married priests to address the shortage of priests in the region. In his post-synodal apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia, Pope Francis rejected the proposal.

Even while serving as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis was quoted in the book On Heaven and Earth as saying that celibacy “is a matter of discipline, not of faith … For the moment, I am in favor of maintaining celibacy, with all its pros and cons, because we have 10 centuries of good experiences rather than failures.”

His thoughts were consistent with the 1983 Code of Canon Law and with Paul VI’s Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, which presents the pastoral reasons behind mandatory celibacy. A priest dedicates himself completely to the ministry not as a partial donation but as “a total gift,” a 24-7 commitment, no less.

“Clerics are obliged to observe perfect and perpetual continence … with an undivided heart and are able to dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and humanity” (Can. 277 §1).

What concerns me right now is not canon law or the age-old tradition but the theology behind mandatory celibacy, in particular in its Christological and eschatological dimensions.

Yes, Bishop Bätzing’s first statement was correct when he said that “the celibacy of priests is a biblically attested form of following Jesus.” Ordained ministers know deep in their hearts that the most fundamental rationale in the practice of perpetual continence is the imitation of Christ — the true son of Adam, virgin, celibate and chaste.

A priest is an alter Christus by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders and the only form to be identified with Christ is to remain a virgin, celibate and chaste, from the moment of ordination to his death, which is, of course, easier said than done.

For good reason, a priest is a witness of a time without end (aeternum), which is the opposite of chronological time and space

A priest is substantially configured with Jesus in Holy Orders, a fact that separates the ordained from the lay faithful. Imitatio Christi or the imitation of Christ, though essential for every Christian, is an imperative for a priest, who acts in persona Christi. That’s the Christological dimension.

Here comes the eschatological part: As I have indicated, during ordination, a priest is configured in Jesus Christ in aeternum, and therefore called sacerdos in aeternum, “a priest forever, according to the Order of Melchisedech.”

For good reason, a priest is a witness of a time without end (aeternum), which is the opposite of chronological time and space. As an alter ego of Christ on Earth, a person cannot assume that role unless marked in his persona advocacy for something beyond this earthly life.

Let’s go back to the basics. A priest by vocation is a teacher of eschatology, a prophet of the mystery of death, judgment and the reality of heaven and hell, according to Pius XI in Ad Catholici Sacerdotii. And as a teacher of eschatology, a priest cannot stop talking and witnessing those unseen realities.

Immersed and yet transcendent, rooted on earth and yet yearning for heaven, a priest prepares himself and God’s faithful people for the Parousia, the second coming of Christ, the end of all things visible. Priestly celibacy, for one, is a singular sign of that witnessing, a sign of heaven, “in which the children of the resurrection neither marry nor take wives” (Luke 20:35).

So, why dilute the original marrow of the holy priesthood with optional celibacy?

* Jose Mario Bautista Maximiano is the author of ‘Ethics and Social Responsibility in Mass Communication’ (Anvil, 2007) and ‘Pope Francis, the Catholic Bishop, and the Priest’ (Claretians, 2014).The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.

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