“Natural law comes before his right as a priest,” he writes, adding that a priest’s first responsibility would be to his child, and that “he must leave his priestly ministry and take care of his child.”
Canon lawyers say there is nothing in Church law that requires priests to leave the priesthood to father children. “There is zero, zero, zero,” said Laura Sgro, a canon lawyer in Rome. “As this is not a canonical crime, there is no grounds for dismissal.”
Mr. Doyle, along with other children of priests and some former priests themselves, say they do not believe that removal from the priesthood is always in the best interests of the child, and that sometimes it deprives potentially a livelihood family.
“I don’t believe unemployment is a response to fatherhood,” Mr Doyle said.
Some children of priests, however, want their fathers kicked out of the ministry.
Reverend Pietro Tosi was 54 when he raped the mother of Erik Zattoni, who was 14, Mr Zattoni said. His family tried to force the priest to recognize their son, but he refused. The family was evicted from their parish house in a small town outside Ferrara, Italy, where they often crossed paths.
“He never said anything,” said Mr Zattoni, now 37.
In 2010, Mr. Zattoni sued Father Tosi, demanding recognition. A court-ordered DNA test showed he was in fact the priest’s son. The Vatican eventually instructed Father Tosi’s bishop to warn him and remind him of his responsibilities as a father, but did not demand his removal from the priesthood.
