Marriage of Laicized Priest?

[Wannabe_Monk_16]

Can a laicized or “defrocked” priest get married?
I have been in contact with a individual from [a ministry that uses former priests], and he claims that he is married, but he was previously an ordained Roman Catholic priest. Is this possible?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Code of Canon Law:

Can. 291 …loss of the clerical state does not entail a dispensation from the obligation of celibacy, which only the Roman Pontiff grants.

It is *possible *for a Catholic priest to be laicized and get married in the Church. **However **these are two separate processes. A priest can request to be laicized but that process does not release him from his promise of celibacy. To be laicized means that he has no clerical rights or responsibilities. After he is laicized he must separately petition the Holy Father to be released from his promise of celibacy. To be released from celibacy is not automatic. The promise of celibacy is a serious one and the totality of circumstances must be evaluated before dispensing it.

In the situation you describe, it would be unlikely that the Pope would have dispensed someone from celibacy who was engaging in ministry outside the Church. Its also unlikely, in my opinion, that someone who is doing such a thing would have even bothered to go through the process to be released from celibacy. The promise of celibacy renders any attempt at marriage invalid unless it is dispensed.