“Why should we lose a young man who would have made a fine priest, just because he wanted to get married? And we did lose good priests just because they chose marriage,” he said.
Scicluna, who has personally handled multiple investigations into clerical sex abuse on behalf of the Vatican’s doctrine office, made the comments when asked about Catholic priests in Malta who have secret relationships and have fathered illegitimate children.
“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 said.
“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.
Scicluna, who was a delegate at the Synod on Synodality assembly last fall, added that he has previously spoken openly in Rome about his views on priestly celibacy.
Priestly celibacy discussed at Synod on Synodality
The requirement of priestly celibacy was openly discussed at the 2019 Synod of Bishops on the Pan-Amazon region, but in the end, Pope Francis chose not to mention celibacy in his postsynodal apostolic exhortation.
The topic came up again during the 2023 Synod on Synodality assembly at the Vatican in October. The assembly’s synthesis report has asked whether it is necessary to maintain the discipline of priestly celibacy in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church and called for the question to be taken up again in the next assembly in October 2024, noting that “different assessments were expressed” on the topic during the first synod assembly.
Pope Francis on priestly celibacy
In an interview for a book published in October, Pope Francis pushed back against the idea that changes to Church practice such as introducing female deacons or optional priestly celibacy would help boost vocations.
