Can such priests who have left the priesthood for marriage ever be reinstated to active ministry?
The Holy See has the authority to reinstate, to active priestly ministry, a man who formerly sinned by leaving the priesthood to marry, if he is now repentant and humbled, and if he now fully adheres to Church teaching and discipline, and if he now agrees to perform penance for his sin and to do whatever else the Church may require of him. The Holy See has the authority to allow such a man to remain in the married state of life and to resume his active priestly ministry because the Holy See has the authority both to ordain married men as priests and to forgive sins. 5. Can married men become priests? Yes, the Church does sometimes permit married men to become priests. The Catholic Church, in the East, regularly permits some married men to become priests. However, once ordained, an unmarried man is not allowed to seek a wife or to marry. Furthermore, even in the East, most priests are and must be celibate. In the West, that is, in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, the ordinary path
