Can a Bishop Be Married?

Can a bishop be married

The Catholic Church has long-standing discipline that states that only celibate men are ordained as priests and deacons. This means that once a man has been ordained he can never get married and can not be a bishop (unless he receives special permission from the Church).

There are exceptions to this general rule in certain cases where it may be beneficial for the person being ordained. For example, if the person being ordained is married and is considering becoming a Catholic then he can be ordained as a permanent deacon and later become a Catholic priest with special permission from the Pope.

Married Men and the Priesthood

A number of bishops in the Orthodox Church have been married. In particular, the Greek Archdiocese of North and South America has been a longtime advocate for the ordination of married priests. In addition, the Coptic Orthodox Synaxarian records one of the early Patriarchs as being married.

However, it is not clear whether these bishops were ordained in the same way as a traditional Orthodox bishop. Nonetheless, it is a practice that does not appear to be endorsed by modern Orthodoxy.

In most jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church, a person is required to remain a vowed celibate until they have been ordained as a priest or bishop. This is because marriage can impede the priest/Bishop’s ability to carry out his duties as a priest/Bishop effectively and efficiently.

There is a problem with this view of the law. It can lead to priests and bishops committing canonical crimes by contracting a civil marriage. If a priest/Bishop contracts a civil marriage while still a vowed celibate, then they are violating the canonical rule against marriage and are therefore committing a canonical crime.

It can also lead to priests and bishops committing a canonical crime by causing a civil marriage for someone who is not a Catholic. This is because marriages are valid unless the parties have received a dispensation from canonical form by the bishop or have entered a mixed religion marriage with a non-Catholic.

During his recent visit to Argentina, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Novell, a bishop in the Solsona diocese who was accused of having a sexual relationship with a divorced woman and writing erotic novels. In his speech, he said that the bishop had acted in a way that was “incompatible with the dignity of the Office of the Church.”

This is not the first time that a bishop has remarried while still in office. In 1981, the widowed suffragan bishop of Repton, Stephen Verney, was allowed to marry while serving in his post. He was the first bishop in modern times to do so.

In his letter to the church of Antioch in the fourth century, St. Paul said that a bishop should be “the husband of one wife” and “one who rules well his own house, having his children in subjection.”