Unmarried Ministers And Married Ministers – Two Contexts of the Ministry in the Catholic Church

Abstract

The article presents the current legal status concerning the possibility of the presbyteral and diaconal ordination in the Catholic Church of the married and unmarried men. The principle is that in the Latin Church the unmarried candidates receive the presbyteral ordination, but married men can also receive the permanent diaconate. The exception to the rule of celibacy in the case of Latin presbyters is the status of the married former Anglican clergy, who after having made the Catholic profession of faith, receive the presbyteral ordination in the Catholic Church. But in the Eastern Catholic Churches the decision concerning the unmarried candidates to sacred orders, pursuant to the provisions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, is the competence of the particular law of each Church sui iuris or special norms established by the Apostolic See depending on the degree of autonomy of the Church. In 2014 the Congregation for the Eastern Churches published the decision of Pope Francis, under which the married men can be ordained and the ministry of married priests is possible in territories non considered “Eastern regions”. The author also attaches an analysis of the particular provisions of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Polish Bishops’ Conference.