Benedict insists priests must remain celibate

POPE BENEDICT reaffirmed the Roman Catholic rule of priestly celibacy yesterday, rejecting suggestions that the way to confront the shortage of priests was to allow them to marry.

Speaking at the first canonisation ceremony of his six-month pontificate, he also expressed solidarity with the church in China.

The new saints proclaimed at an open-air mass in Peter’s Square included two Italians, a Chilean and two Poles.