Is it lawful for a Priest to be married?

[Daniel_in_Iowa]

I am not asking if a Priest may marry. My Priest in Kandahar was a convert from the Episcopal church, in which he was a minister and was married. He converted and was ordained a Priest.

My wife is a “cradle” Catholic, from whom I have learned much. She insists that there are no married priests within the Latin Rite. She is adamant that this priest could only have been ordained by a “rogue” archbishop, who can only have been Anglo-Catholic and not Roman Catholic.

Is she correct?
Thank you.

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Your wife is incorrect. While it is the norm in the Latin Church for priests not to be married, there are exceptions. One such exception is when a minister from the Anglican community becomes a Catholic. Sometimes they are permitted to become Catholic priests and they receive a dispensation from the norm of celibacy.

This accommodation for converts is called the Pastoral Provision. According to the website pastoralprovision.org/

In 1980 the Holy See, in response to requests from priests and laity of the Episcopal Church who were seeking full communion with the Catholic Church, created a pastoral provision to provide them with special pastoral attention. The Pastoral Provision is under the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith whose Delegate directs the working of the Provision.

Under the Provision the ordination of married Episcopal priests was made possible…

Further reading:
Article: Father Patrick Allen, married father of two, leaves Anglicanism to become Catholic priest
National Catholic Register: Anglican Clergymen Become Catholic Priests: Taking the Final Steps to Ordination