Celibacy Confirmed

Pope Paul last week closed the doors on any hopes that the Roman Catholic Church might soon relax its insistence on celibacy for priests. In a 12,500-word encyclical called Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (Priestly Celibacy), the Pope decreed that the present ban on marriage "should today continue to be firmly linked to the ecclesiastical ministry."

One by one, the Pope took up the objections to celibacy -- that it is contrary to human nature, that there is no Scriptural basis for it, that its observance has become almost impossible -- and rejected them all. On the practical level, he answered, celibacy "gives to the priest the maximum efficiency." He described "the heavy and sweet burden" of chastity for priests as "the total and generous gift of themselves" to Christ. "Priestly celibacy," he declared, "has been guarded by the church for centuries as a brilliant jewel, and retains its value undiminished even in our time."

The encyclical referred to the recent wave of priests who have left the church to marry as "lamentable," and proposed rigorous new methods of choosing and training candidates for the cassock, including more psychological guidance. For the moment at least, the encyclical would still public argument within the church on the issue, but it was unlikely to change the feeling of clerics who regard celibacy as a burden that is heavy without being sweet. Within the past three years, no fewer than 4,000 priests have asked Rome to release them from their vows in order to marry. A poll conducted last year by Jesuit Sociologist Joseph Fichter indicated that 62% of U.S. priests favored a relaxation in the ban against marriage.

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