(LifeSiteNews) — An interview with a laicized priest has reignited the debate over married clergy.
On November 16, Italian newspaper Il Gazzettino published an interview with Luca Favarin, a priest barred from exercising his ministry who was then dismissed from the clerical state and released from his obligation to celibacy.
“I have decided not to hide: I have turned my life upside down according to my desires and my needs,” Favarin, 53, told his interviewer. “I fell in love, and I am with a woman I care about very much. It’s early, but I would also like to have a child.”
Favarin is a man with an interesting CV. He is a former parish priest with missionary experience in Africa and pastoral experience with prisoners, a sommelier and expert in fine French wines, a consultant in intercultural pedagogy, a former university lecturer, and the author of books against racism.
Three years ago, the Diocese of Padua (Padova) suspended Favarin from celebrating the sacraments and from preaching because of conflicts with his ordinary, Bishop Claudio Cipolla. These apparently concerned his “method of entrepreneurial activities.” In fact, Favarin was managing as many as nine reception centers for immigrants.
To this activity, he added a civic engagement that was difficult to reconcile with Catholic doctrine: He supported both so-called LGBT rights and assisted suicide. After his suspension from ministry, he obtained from Pope Francis in 2023 a papal dispensation that returned him to the lay state and released him from the obligation of celibacy.
His laicization was considered worthy of public attention. Now the priest has returned to the media spotlight to assert his choice to have a romantic relationship with a woman, her identity currently unknown to the public, and his simultaneous desire to resume ministry within the Catholic Church as a fully reinstated priest.
Reappearing in multiple news outlets this week, the Favarin case has reopened the debate on clerical celibacy. At the same time, the idea is taking hold in Italian media that a Catholic priest can support positions contrary to the Gospel, such as same-sex civil unions and euthanasia.
According to estimates by the International Movement of Married Priests, there are between 5,000 and 7,000 married laicized priests in Italy, and worldwide their number is believed to be around 100,000. The movement was founded in 2003 by the Italian priest Giuseppe Serrone, who was also dismissed from the clerical state and dispensed from celibacy, later marrying in the Church a young Albanian woman he met in his parish. The association’s goal is to pressure the Vatican to abolish priestly celibacy and reintegrate the many married priests around the world into pastoral life.
In January 2025, the movement sent Pope Francis a formal request for the readmission of these priests into full ecclesial life, objecting that current canon law prevents them from contributing pastorally despite having a proper dispensation from celibacy and a stable family life. The same movement sent a letter to Pope Leo complaining about the exclusion of married priests from the jubilee events for seminarians, bishops, and priests held last June.
“Love and the altar are compatible,” states the Movement of Married Priests, calling for “the Church to welcome these families as a richness.”
On June 25, while meeting seminarians from various dioceses of Italy’s northeastern Triveneto region, Pope Leo XIV strongly reaffirmed that priestly celibacy remains an essential dimension of presbyteral life and is not open to discussion.
The Pontiff described it as “a charism to be acknowledged, conserved and educated,” emphasizing that it is not merely a disciplinary obligation but a choice of love and total dedication to Christ.
In his address, he also encouraged the young future priests not to feel isolated in their vocational journey: “Do not think of yourselves as alone, nor by yourselves,” he said, urging them to live chastity with confidence and to find support within the ecclesial community.