unmarried), this practice is a long-held discipline of the Church.
Experts say as many as 120 Catholic priests in the U.S. are married. VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis's hints about a possible opening on the issue of married priests are sowing confusion in the Vatican and among Catholic reformists and conservatives alike. Protestant married priests who convert to Catholicism can continue to be married and be a Roman Catholic priest, provided they have their wives’ permission, according to the report. Eastern Catholic churches that are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church can also maintain their tradition of married priests. When Eastern Catholics began to migrate to the United States in great numbers, however, the Roman rite clergy (particularly the Irish) chafed at the presence of Eastern married clergy. In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, married priests were common, though the disciplines of the Church severely restricted marital relations. It is in full communion with Rome, very similar to the Roman Catholic Rite and Priests can be married as long as they are married prior to being ordained. One of those traditions is allowing priests to marry.


You can only be a parish priest. Some estimates place the number of married priests at around 20% of all Catholic priests in the world. While Roman Catholic priests are usually celibate (i.e. VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has lifted its ban on the ordination of married men to the priesthood in Eastern Catholic churches outside their traditional territories, including in the United States, Canada and Australia. Married Catholic Priests | Anthony P. Kowalski | ISBN: 9780975325902 | Kostenloser Versand für alle Bücher mit Versand und Verkauf duch Amazon. This would mean that 20% of all Catholic priests are officially and legally married, even though celibacy continues to be a requirement. A defrocked Catholic priest, who is serving a jail term for raping a minor girl, has petitioned the High Court in a southern Kerala state seeking two months' parole to marry his victim as she has come of age. The former priest Robin Vadakkumcherry said in his application that he wants to take care of the baby born out of the rape and the mother. But as a married priest you can never move up to bishop or anything higher. In response, the Vatican imposed the discipline of celibacy on all …