Retired Pope Benedict XVI has reaffirmed his support for priestly celibacy as his successor considers plans to relax a ban on married men being ordained.
Benedict's comments, published in a book co-authored with Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, come in response to a proposal to allow married men to become priests in the Amazon region, where the faithful can go months without having a Mass.
The former pope had promised to remain “hidden from the world” when he retired in 2013, but the intervention could be seen as an attempt to sway the thinking of the incumbent Pope Francis.
Benedict also penned an essay last year on the sexual abuse scandal that blamed the crisis on the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
In the book titled From the Depths of Our Hearts: Priesthood, Celibacy and the Crisis of the Catholic Church, Benedict writes that the celibacy rule has "great significance" because it allows priests to focus on their duties, whereas married men must focus on their families.
The 92-year-old wrote: “Since serving the Lord likewise requires the total gift of a man, it does not seem possible to carry on the two vocations simultaneously.
“Thus, the ability to renounce marriage so as to place oneself totally at the Lord’s disposition became a criterion for priestly ministry.”
His reaffirmation of priestly celibacy, however, gets to the heart of a fraught policy issue that Francis is expected to weigh in on.
The implications for such an intervention are grave, and are likely to fuel renewed anxiety about the unprecedented situation of two popes, one retired and one reigning, living side by side in the Vatican gardens.
