The Rev. Alberto Cutié's future with the Catholic Church remained in doubt on Thursday, but there was no question that photos of the popular priest embracing a woman on a Florida beach have fueled the debate over the celibacy requirement for Catholic clergy.

It was certainly on display Thursday morning in front of Cutié's South Beach parish near Alton Road, where more than 60 sign-waving supporters rallied to the priest's defense.

''Celibacy no! Choice yes! 21st century,'' they declared in Spanish. ``I admire, I respect, I pardon Father Alberto!''

''He has the right to fall in love and start a family. They're treating him as a sinner,'' said John Olan, 55.

''I think this is the precise moment for the church to recognize that priests are flesh and blood,'' said Violeta Ascue, who attends Cutié's church regularly. ``They should marry, too. I'm sure they'd still be exemplary people.''

The Archdiocese of Miami, which removed the priest from his duties at St. Francis de Sales, said Cutié must decide his future with the Catholic Church. Cutié remained in seclusion on Thursday.

CHURCH STATEMENT

In a prepared statement earlier this week, Archbishop John C. Favalora said Cutié violated the church's position on celibacy.

''Father Cutié made a promise of celibacy, and all priests are expected to fulfill that promise with the help of God,'' he said. ``Father Cutié's actions cannot be condoned despite the good works he has done as a priest.''

''Scandals such as this offer an occasion for the church on all levels to examine our consciences regarding the integrity of our commitments to the Lord and to his Church,'' he added.

The Roman Catholic Church says its 900-year-old celibacy policy allows priests to dedicate themselves to God and the church without distraction. Historians say it also had to do with money in a church that did not want married priests passing on wealth to children. Money could still be an issue: Married priests would require higher salaries and better benefits.

As recently as March, the outgoing archbishop of New York said in a radio interview that the celibacy requirement ''has to be looked at'' given the dwindling number of priests. ''I think that it's going to be discussed,'' Cardinal Edward M. Egan said.

While the United States had 57,000 priests for 52 million Catholics in 1985, there were fewer than 41,000 last year for 64 million Catholics, according to Georgetown University's Center for the Applied Research in the Apostolate. Three priests will be ordained Saturday in Miami.

''There is quite a bit of discussion behind the scenes on the issue by church officials,'' said Sister Christine Schenk, executive director of FutureChurch, a Cleveland-based group that advocates the ordination of women and asks: Is it realistic to require a priest to refrain from sex and marriage?

CELIBACY RULE

In 1980, Pope John Paul II quietly made provisions for married Protestant clergymen who converted to Catholicism to become priests. In addition, church deacons, who can perform most priestly functions except hearing confession and consecrating the Eucharist, can marry if their wives die.

In 2006, however, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the celibacy policy and excommunicated an African bishop for ordaining four married men as priests.

In Eastern Rite churches such as the Maronite Church, which are autonomous but recognized by the Vatican as Catholic, married men can become priests but unwed priests cannot marry.

Priests who want to marry can request permission to join the laity or abandon the church.

Five former Roman Catholic priests, now married, serve as clergymen in the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida.

At RentAPriest.Com, a website run by a national group of former Roman Catholic priests called Celibacy Is the Issue, eight South Florida men are listed as offering their services for marriages and other rites.

''They should definitely change the celibacy rule,'' said one of them, Paul Veliyathil, 58 of Coral Springs, who left the priesthood in 1988 and later married. Now a chaplain at Vitas Hospice Services, he said he would be a much better priest today, as a husband and a father, than he was as a celibate man in his native India.

In an unscientific MiamiHerald.com poll on Thursday, 77 percent of more than 4,800 readers who responded said the Catholic Church should reconsider the requirement that priests be celibate.

Last week, days before compromising photos of him with an unidentified woman were published in a Mexican magazine, Cutié told an interviewer the church should give Catholic priests the choice to marry.

''If they want to discipline me, let them discipline me, but I think the option would be better and healthier,'' he said on WSBS-TV's Paparazzi TV program.

Thursday's rally at Saint Francis de Sales drew criticism from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a national group.

''When Catholics enthusiastically and publicly back priests accused of misdeeds, it's hurtful. It intimidates others who've seen, suspected or suffered clergy crimes into staying silent,'' director David Clohessy said in a statement.

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