If it's just an administrative economic decision then you would think it would be quite easy for them to do away with it. Why cling to it when it's not doctrine or dogma? There's no reason to cling to such an unbiblical practice.
Celibacy is hardly unbiblical. As for why not get rid of it is that the problem still exists. It comes down to two major problems, wnat happens should the priest die and what happens should the priest's spouse leave/die, especially should that priest become a Bishop?
1. The Problem of the Mance and Inheritence
The Catholic Church provides not only a stipend, but also a house for the priest to reside. Should the priest die, how can the Church in good conscience cast out the now widowed wife? In response, if the wife was allowed to stay, should the Church have to buy the supplies and property for another house? Also, if the wife was allowed to stay, does she inherit the house or does she now need to pay monthly rent on the house, since it is the Church's property?
2. The Problem of Annulment or being Widowed
The Catholic Church does not recognize divorce, except in a very few cases. However, there is such a thing as an annulment, the argument that the marriage was never valid due to religious or moral reasons, such as mental immaturity, discovered incest, or the inability to marry (such as bigamy). If the priest gets his marriage annulled, then there is no problem. However, should the priest be divorced due to adultery on the part of the wife, and should that same priest fall in love and be remarried, according to a literal understanding of Scripture, that priest can never be a Bishop. The same comes in should the wife die.
Now, the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church debated these issues, until it became suggested in the 900s AD that priests remain celibate. In the 1000s AD, the Eastern Orthodox split from the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox decided that priests can marry, but never remarry due to problem 2. Their answer to problem 1 was to separate the mance from the priest's residence. The Priest would reside in a small room within the Church, while his family would reside in the mance. Should the priest die, the mance would be given to the priest's family in honor of the priest's service, but allowing a new priest to live in the small room.
In the 1100s AD, the Roman Catholic Church decided to enforce celibacy on all new incoming priests in order to deal with these problems, since due to the multiple sovereignties, such as England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire, having their own peculiar laws on inheritance caused a massive problem of nations disinheriting widows or taxing Church property. One such example took place in England in the late 1000 AD, when a priest who served in Wales died. His wife was allowed by the local Bishop to stay in the house provided by the Church. However, when the widow had created a massive debt to her local lord, the lord confiscated her house in lieu of debt. The Church intervened due to the fact that the local lord could not confiscate the house because it was not hers, but the Church's. The local lord brought forth a lawsuit that went all the way to Vatican, where after a serious amount of time, the reigning Pontiff decided to just pay the woman's debt out of the Vatican bank. This is but one example of MANY that caused the Church to finally decide that priests should remain celibate.
Pope Francis has said on more than two occasions now that the Church must revisit the issue, since modern law is far different than it once was.
