Pope Francis I, after being inducted as new pope after last week's conclave, may be softer on the celibacy rule than any other pope in the past.

Previous popes have been strict about changing the priest and pope celibacy rule, but Pope Francis I may be open to changing the rule stating priests must be celibate.

In the Spanish-language book On The Heavens And The Earth, Pope Francis, the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, wrote about romance, attraction and love. In particular, he addresses a time at which he felt swayed from his vows by a woman.  

The pope wrote, "I was surprised by her beauty, her intellectual brilliance...and, well, I was bowled over for quite a while."

"I kept thinking and thinking about her. When I returned to the seminary after the wedding, I could not pray for over a week because when I tried to do so, the girl appeared in my head. I had to rethink what I was doing," he continued.

"When something like this happens to a seminarian, I help him go in peace to be a good Christian and not a bad priest," the pope explained. In other words, if a priest feels swayed, he should leave the priesthood.

"In the Western Church to which I belong, priests cannot be married as in the Byzantine, Ukrainian, Russian or Greek Catholic Churches. In those Churches, the priests can be married, but the bishops have to be celibate. They are very good priests," Pope Francis wrote.

Pope Francis says he believes that the rules requiring celibacy in all priests "can be changed."

In an interview last year, Pope Francis said, "For the moment, I am in favor of maintaining celibacy, with all its pros and cons, because we have ten centuries of good experiences rather than failures."

He continued, "What happens is that the scandals have an immediate impact. Tradition has weight and validity. Catholic ministers chose celibacy little by little. Up until 1100, some chose it and some did not. After, the East followed the tradition of non-celibacy as a personal choice, while the West went the opposite way. It is a matter of discipline, not of faith. It can change."

Pope Francis has been the first to use language like 'for the moment' and 'not for now' in terms of celibacy. Thomas Reese of the National Catholic Reporter said that the pope's qualifications about celibacy are unique and surprising. It would be revolutionary, and perhaps the sign of greater changes in the Church to come, to allow priests in the Catholic Church to marry.

However, allowing marriage and sex among members of the priesthood may just be allowing an already-common practice.

Psychotherapist and former Benedictine priest Richard Sipe conducted a study of celibate and sexual behavior among U.S. Catholic priests from 1960-1985. He found that half of all priests and Catholic brothers were sexually active at any time.

Sipe stated that he believes the numbers haven't changed much today. He told the New York Times, Sex is really very close to an addiction. It's a drive that doesn't go away. If you're going to live without it, you can't live like a normal person. You can't just say one day, 'I'm celibate.' Celibacy is a process."

Perhaps it won't have to remain a process for Catholic clerics for much longer.