In a petition to Pope Francis posted on Facebook, German priest Stefan Hartmann asked to be released from his vow of celibacy. Hartmann fathered a child eight years after taking his priestly vows, and the appeal to the pope is his attempt to reconcile his clerical vocation with his responsibilities as a father. The Huffington Post reported that Hartmann’s Facebook post said, “There is a human right to partnership, marriage and parenthood, even if you can forgo it willingly for religious reasons.”

Francis has said on several occasions that clerical celibacy is not a given. In May he told NBC News that “since it is not a dogma, the door is always open” to more discussion.