ROME—Retired Pope Benedict XVI is publicly defending the Catholic Church’s traditional rule of priestly celibacy, the former pontiff’s most explicit effort so far to influence a decision by his successor Pope Francis, who is considering a proposal to routinely ordain married men as Roman Catholic priests for the first time in almost a millennium.
The move poses the latest test of a historically unique arrangement: the coexistence of two popes in the Vatican, made especially complex by the theological differences between the two men, whom many observers see as representing conservative and progressive wings of a polarized church.
Pope Benedict, who retired in 2013 and holds the title Pope Emeritus, is publishing a book in support of clerical celibacy just as Pope Francis is expected to decide early this year whether to allow the ordination of married men in South America’s Amazon region to alleviate a priest shortage there.
“From the Depth of Our Hearts” is co-written by Pope Benedict and Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, head of the Vatican’s office for liturgy, an outspoken conservative whom Pope Francis has previously rebuked for championing traditional styles of worship. News of the book, due to be published in French this Wednesday and in English next month, was first reported by French daily Le Figaro.
It has already intensified a debate over the proper place of a former pope in the Catholic Church.
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“Of course it is his right to say whatever he wants,” the Rev. James Martin, a prominent American commentator on church affairs, wrote on Twitter. “But given his unique role, some may see this as a ‘parallel magisterium,’ which can lead to disunity.”
Pope Francis has taken a markedly different approach from his predecessor to a number of controversial issues, pursuing a more lenient line on divorce, homosexuality and contraception, to the alarm of conservatives.
The current pope has said that he is open to an exception to the celibacy requirement for Catholic priests in sparsely populated areas with a shortage of clergy, such as remote islands in the Pacific. In October, a meeting of bishops at the Vatican recommended that the pope make such an exception for the Amazon.
The church currently makes individual exceptions for married Protestant ministers who convert to Catholicism. The relatively small Eastern Catholic Churches, who follow the pope but observe Orthodox practices, also have married clergy.
In the new book, Pope Benedict writes that even married priests in the early church were always required to be sexually abstinent as a sign of their marriage to the church, according to an excerpt in Le Figaro.
“It is urgent, necessary, that everyone, bishops, priests and laypeople, not allow themselves to be impressed by the special pleading, the theatrics, the diabolical lies, the fashionable errors that would devalue priestly celibacy,” the retired pope and Cardinal Sarah write in one of their jointly written chapters.
Pope Benedict, who became the first pope to resign in almost six centuries when he stepped down in 2013, said at the time that he would remain “hidden from the world” and live a “life dedicated to prayer.”
On resigning, he said his “strengths, due to an advanced age,” were no longer adequate to his duties. Seven years later, he has grown visibly thin and frail, and has used a walker for some time. Recent footage from German television shows him speaking softly with apparent effort. But people who have seen him lately say he remains mentally acute. He continues to receive visitors at his residence, a former convent on a hill in the Vatican gardens. Photos of the encounters frequently appear on social media.
The retired pope has made occasional public statements over the years, including giving a lengthy interview to a German journalist. His most controversial statement until now has been the publication of a long article in April blaming the church’s clerical sex-abuse crisis on the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
That article stood in contrast with Pope Francis’ statements on sex abuse, which have emphasized a mind-set of privilege and impunity for clergy as a root cause of the abuse crisis.
Pope Benedict said at the time that he had received permission from Pope Francis to publish the article.
The Vatican didn’t respond to an inquiry as to whether Pope Francis had approved the new book’s publication.
According to John Allen, president of Crux Catholic Media and author of numerous books on the papacy, it was unrealistic to expect that a former pope who is also a significant theologian would remain silent until death.
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“One should also remember that Francis has invited robust debate in the church, so it’s a little disingenuous to blame someone for contributing to precisely what the pope has requested,” Mr. Allen said.
The Rev. Thomas Reese, senior analyst for Religion News Service and author of “Inside the Vatican,” agreed there is no way to silence a former pope but said new rules were necessary “to make clear that he no longer speaks as pope.” He suggested that a retired pope return to the status of cardinal, go by his original name and live wherever his successor decides.
Pope Benedict himself invented the title of Pope Emeritus, and ever since there has been debate and confusion about the precise nature of his role.
The recent movie “The Two Popes,” which recounts a series of fictional meetings between the two men before Benedict’s resignation, imagines the past and present pontiffs bonding over pizza and televised soccer matches.
Few Vatican observers find that plausible, but Pope Francis, 83, has spoken of his predecessor, who is 92, with respect and affection as a “wise grandfather,” saying that he is grateful for his support and counsel.
Write to Francis X. Rocca at francis.rocca@wsj.com
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