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In an interview published Friday (March 10), Pope Francis called celibacy in the priesthood a gift from God but also a 'provisional' discipline observed mostly in the Western Church that is not essential to ordination.
Celibacy in the Western Church is a temporary prescription: I do not know if it is settled in one way or another, but it is temporary in this sense - Pope Francis
Pope Francis says that celibacy for priests is a "temporary prescription," signaling a potential end to a centuries-old requirement of the Roman Catholic Church.