Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
The Associated PressFebruary 03, 2022
Cardinal Reinhard Marx comments in a press conference, in front of a microphone, on the expert report on sexual violence against children and young people in the Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising in Munich, Germany.Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, comments in a press conference on the expert report on sexual violence against children and young people in the Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising in Munich, Germany, Thursday on Jan. 27, 2022. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

BERLIN (AP) — A prominent German archbishop advocated loosening celibacy rules for Catholic priests in comments published Thursday before a meeting of a German reform assembly.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the archbishop of Munich, told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung that “it would be better for everyone to create the possibility of celibate and married priests.” His comments come as his diocese has been shaken by an independent report on the church’s handling of sexual abuse cases over decades, which faulted Marx and predecessors including retired Pope Benedict XVI.

Marx, a prominent reformist ally of Pope Francis, said last week that the church needs deep reform to overcome the “disaster” of sexual abuse.

The cardinal insisted that celibacy won’t be scrapped altogether, but said he sees a “question mark” over “whether it should be taken as a basic precondition for every priest.”

“For some priests, it would be better if they were married—not just for sexual reasons, but because it would be better for their life and they wouldn’t be lonely,” he said in the newspaper interview. “We must hold this discussion.”

He insisted that celibacy won’t be scrapped altogether, but said he sees a “question mark” over “whether it should be taken as a basic precondition for every priest.”

In 2019, Marx expressed support for a call by bishops in the Amazon region for the ordination of married men as priests to address a clergy shortage there, but stopped short of calling for a global recognition of married priests.

On Thursday, the latest session of a German reform process that was launched in response to the abuse crisis is due to open. The “Synodal Path,” which brings together Catholic church and lay representatives, has sparked fierce resistance inside the church, primarily from conservatives opposed to opening any debate on issues such as priestly celibacy, women’s role in the church and homosexuality.

The latest from america

When the cardinals voted to elect Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the 265th successor of St. Peter on the evening of March 13, 2013, few of them imagined what kind of pope he would be.
Gerard O’ConnellApril 21, 2025
Just halfway through his period of convalescence, Pope Francis not only appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Easter Sunday to give the Urbi et Orbi blessing—to the city of Rome (“urbi”) and to the world (“orbi”)—but he also drove among the crowd in his jeep.
Gerard O’ConnellApril 20, 2025
Against the backdrop of deep differences with the Trump administration over migration and foreign aid as well as concerns for Ukraine and for Gaza, the Vatican secretary of state welcomed U.S. Vice President JD Vance to the Vatican.
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, attended the liturgy with his wife, Usha, a practicing Hindu, and his three children after meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni earlier in the day.