Be not afraid

The excommunicated married archbishop is at it again.

CNS does the honors:

Excommunicated Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo said the Catholic Church should not fear accepting married men into the priesthood.

"There is no contradiction between marriage and priesthood," he told reporters at a Jan. 17 press conference unveiling a new book on his life.

"It is not right the church imposes celibacy" on its priests, he said.

"God did not create celibacy because in the beginning there were two -- a husband and wife," Adam and Eve, said the archbishop.

"God wanted another person to be by Adam's side," he added.

The former Zambian archbishop made his remarks after presenting "Confessions of an Excommunicated Man," his book-length interview with Italian journalist Raffaella Rosa.

The 172-page paperback is currently available only in Italian through Koine, an Italian publishing house. Rosa told Catholic News Service the publishers have been looking at options for translations and foreign publishers for the book.

Great. Sounds like a real page-turner.

As a (married) deacon said recently: "If the church wants to keep the priesthood to men who are celibate, all they have to do is ordain deacons who have been married 25 years."