Former German bishop Reinhold Nann has admitted he married a Peruvian woman months after stepping down from ministry, though he remains bound by his priestly vows.

The 65-year-old said he “resigned from episcopal and priestly ministry 13 or 9 months before getting married,” insisting, “I’m not against [celibacy]; it just didn’t work out for me.”

Nann, who led the Caravelí prelature in Peru until 2024, claimed “tens of thousands” of priests are secretly in relationships and warned, “If the Catholic Church continues to staunchly defend celibacy in theory, it will simply lose a large part of its personnel in practice very soon," as reported by The Pillar.

He also noted that celibacy “is not a mandate from Jesus but from a 12th-century pope.”

His case has reignited debate within the Catholic Church about mandatory celibacy, with supporters viewing it as spiritual devotion and critics calling for reform amid growing priest shortages.