And he obviously doesn't call all opriests to celibacy. Ya gotta think a little outside the box here. When the RC's accept married converts who are already in Holy Orders from the Anglicans, or Lutherans, they often ordain them as RC Priests. Happens all the time. Priests of the Uniate (Eastern Rite under Papal Authority) Eastern Churches are allowed ordination if they are married, (although I don't think they are allowed to marry afterwards.)
Of course, the converted clergy are allowed to keep their wives and families, even as they serve as RC Priests. The point is, Celibacy is a rule of their Church, they recognize it is not a "Rule from God" and that it has scant Scriptural provenance. It's like an organizational thing. The Roamn Catholics could change this and probably will when they get around to it. Who knows, might even be a good idea.
Right now, it might look as if they were allowing marriage among their clergy because of the paedophilic-queer scandals. Clerical Marriage and these buggering bastards have nothing to do with each other. They are the result of the RC's relaxing another rule they had which was a damn good one: that is they actively used to discourage homosexuals from entering the seminaries. (duh!?)
I'll have to disagree. I think we've had so much thinking "outside the box" that we're having trouble remembering where the box is located lately.
You make several valid points. I have no beef with those married priests the Church recognizes. But I also believe, as the Church teaches, that the celibate priesthood is a superior rule.
And even if I thought it was a good idea, I'd argue against it at this time as a simple matter of pragmatism. The Church is reeling from an onslaught of bishops and activists who seem bent on changing absolutely every Church tradition within their own lifetime. I'll flatly state that I believe the wisdom of the current generation is inferior to the collected wisdom of the preceding generations - as represented in the traditions we inherited from them. We need to slow the heck down and give our predecesors the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they were not complete idiots for a change.