Apostolic Constitution on Abolition of Mandatory Celibacy and institution of Optional Celibacy for Clerics in the Catholic Church

From His Holiness Pope Michael II, Servant of the Servants of God, To all faithful Catholics in communion with us : Peace and Apostolic Benediction!

In the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 19 verse 10 Our Lord's disciples said to Him, " If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry." But He said to them, " All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: " For there are eunuchs who were born this from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it. " ( Matthew 19: 10 - 12 ). It is very explicit here that the Lord praises those who made themselves celibate by their own free choice but our Lord does not impose celibacy as mandatory.

2. Since the selection of the twelve apostles, the Lord Jesus Christ had selected men who were married and had families except John, the younger apostle who was in charge to take care of His blessed mother, the Theotokos. In as much as the Holy Matrimony is a sacrament and not holy virginity. In the book of Genesis, the Almighty God the Father did not will Adam to be alone but given a companion, Eve. Because God himself is a family, a community of persons, Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and therefore He wanted to teach us to create a family and not to live in isolation to one another. God the Father himself wanted His children to be selfless and not selfish, to be for others not for oneself ( in se ipsa ).

3. Before He ascended into heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ had commanded his disciples, " Go and make disciples, baptized them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." ( Matthew 28: 19 ). He explicitly mandated His disciples to create a family of God, which is also become a Church ( Qahal Yahweh, Ekklesia ).

4. The Church being the bride of Christ must be without blemish and chaste as a Virgin. However virginity here is greater than physical virginity. It must be chastity. Because nowadays there are those who profess to be a virgin yet do not live in chastity. Their activities are not congruent with their vocation.

5. Even though the issue on chastity is never new, the 21st century is a vivid testimony that mandatory celibacy should be optional and never imposed. In as much as it created another problem in the Catholic Church like homosexuality and pedophilia.

History of Mandatory Celibacy

6. From the Apostolic era to the first one thousand years of the Catholic Church, Celibacy was not imposed. We have mentioned from the above that the apostles themselves were married including St. Peter, the first Pope. It was only in the Eleventh century that celibacy was mandatory in the Latin rite. In fact in Europe, many priests were still married even in the 12th century and their children followed their path wherein reforms became difficult to implement. The last married pope was Adrian II ( 867- 872 ) , who was married to Stephania, with whom he had a daughter.

7. The earliest documents for married priests to observe continence were in fourth century, namely Council of Elvira ( 305 AD ) , Southern Spain and Council of Carthage ( 309 AD ). During the reign of Pope Damascus ( 305- 384 ) , son of a priest himself, St. Lorenzo, introduced the rule of continence. It was only in 1139 at the Second Lateran Council, celibacy became mandatory in the Catholic Church. But as early as 1074 , Pope Gregory VII ordered that anyone who shall be ordained priests must pledge celibacy. Pope Gregory invented celibacy in order to prevent the wives and children of married clerics from inheriting some of the clerics' properties upon their death. Wealth should only be brought into the Church not out of the Church.

8. Karl Rahner , SJ , a theologian, traced the original rationale for celibacy. According to him, celibacy was required for all clerics to prevent alienation of church properties. Since before, when married priests and bishops die, their possession passed unto their families. Such scenario would be very disadvantageous to the Church. And as an antidote for this problem, in 1074 the Catholic Church forbade marriage of priests.

9. Several spiritual justifications have been used just to impose celibacy and glorify celibacy. For example, Our Lord Jesus Christ was not married throughout His life and so, priests must remain single. A priest is married to the Church and so, he can no longer marry a woman. But these are all sugar coated idea to hide the materialistic agenda of the greedy.

10. In the book of Genesis, Adam was not happy being alone and since nothing from animals and plants could make him happy, God gave to Adam, Eve. Man needs a woman, a woman needs a man. Could you say to a baby not to cry ? Could you tell a normal man not to fall in love with a woman? God is love.

11. In the Philippines, we have several vocations to the priesthood. But yours truly realized, most of them are willing to take the vow of celibacy because they do not want to marry a woman but man ! ( Since many of them are homosexuals ). It is no longer Adam and Eve, but Adam and Steve! May the Lord forgive them. This is hypocrisy. Before their parishioners, they look saintly because they are singles but in God's eye, it is hypocrisy. In as much as they are not chase because they maintain male live-in partners.

12. My predecessor, His Holiness Pope Michael of happy memory , wrote in February 14, 2012 on Admission of Married Man to the priesthood: " As pope, we have removed some obstacles to pursuing a vocation since vocation to marriage and the priesthood are not necessarily mutually exclusive. True celibacy is an honorable state, but it is not a doctrine of the Divine and Catholic faith. Celibacy is a discipline of the Church and therefore when the needs of the Church require, it is not insisted upon. " Therefore, from the considerations above foregoing, We hereby solemnly declare that Celibacy is only now optional and not mandatory for all the clerics in the Catholic Church as much as it is in accordance with the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ that not every one can accept mandatory celibacy.

Given this 5th day of May 2025, feast of St. Pius V, Pope and First year of our pontificate.

Michael II, by the grace of God, Pope