The Swiss nun who wants to end celibacy

Florentina Camartin is a retired nun who took a vow of celibacy. When the young priest in her eastern Swiss community had to leave the church for love, she began her crusade for celibacy reform.

“When priests have to give up work we have parishes without a priest, and a parish without a priest is like a flock without a shepherd,” she says. 

“Now’s the time to do something.”

So she started collecting signatures from people in her church community in favour of liberalising celibacy rules in the Roman Catholic Church. Thousands supported her, and she had the petition translated into Italian to show to the Pope. She’s now trying to find someone who can get it to him.

“It must reach him, he must see it,” she says. 

Whether anything changes remains to be seen, but Camartin says that at least she will have done all she can to keep young priests in the church.

In the lead-up to October’s parliamentary elections, this is the ninth in a video series dedicated to looking at how everyday people in Switzerland are affecting political and societal change.

Generation Global series