Why can a laicized priest marry?

[Woodstock]

Can you please explain how a priest can be laicized and then married in the Roman Catholic Church?

It is often explained that a priest has taken a vow after considerable discernment and as an analogy is “married” to the Church. In this way, we can understand laicization by comparing it to a civil divorce, which is, of course, allowed by the Church when necessary. An attempt at a subsequent marriage without annulment is obviously not allowed in the case of marriage and civil divorce.

With the Roman Catholic Church’s understanding of ordination leaving a permanent mark on the soul and of a laicized priest’s ability to validly hear deathbed confessions, it is clear that the Roman Catholic Church still views the man as an ordained priest who is without faculties. Neither East nor West allows ordained men to marry.

How can a Roman Catholic priest or religious leave his vow without annulment in order to marry, then?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Ordinarily, it certainly is not recommended that a laicized priest marry, just as it is not recommended that a person whose marriage has been annulled use the annulment as license to start up a new romantic relationship with someone else. In both cases, although the Church allows for this to occur, presuming the proper permissions have been obtained, it is a concession to human frailty and not a recommended course of action.

A priest who has been laicized does indeed remain a priest forever, but he may marry if free by his laicization to do so. For a theological support of this allowance, see St. Paul:

I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own special gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion (1 Cor. 7:7-9).