Since The Second Vatican Council
The Holy See has officially re-affirmed the discipline of clerical celibacy in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II in Pastores Dabo Vobis stated that the "unchanging" essence of ordination "configures the priest to Jesus Christ the Head and Spouse of the Church." Thus, he said, "The Church, as the Spouse of Jesus Christ, wishes to be loved by the priest in the total and exclusive manner in which Jesus Christ her Head and Spouse loved her."
Still, in a July 18, 1993 New York Times article, Pope John Paul II said that celibacy “does not belong to the essence of priesthood” (Pope Seeks to Clarify Reasons for Celibacy).
The Latin Church now admits married men of mature age to ordination as deacons, provided that they intend to remain permanently as deacons and do not intend to advance to priestly ordination (ordination to the order of deacon is part of the process through which priests pass on their way to priestly ordination). Ordination even to the diaconate is an impediment to a later marriage (for example, if a man who was already married by the time of ordination to the diaconate subsequently becomes a widower), though special dispensation can be received for remarriage under extenuating circumstances.
Read more about this topic: Clerical Celibacy (Catholic Church)
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