The pope and married priests

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The pope and married priests

1John5918
Nov 7, 2017, 8:33 am

A selection of articles on his recent musings on married priests.

Analysis: Will the 2019 Synod discuss married priests? (Catholic Herald)

Despite reports, Pope Francis isn’t opening the door to all married priests (CNA)

Is the celibacy of Catholic priests coming to an end? (Guardian)

Pope raises prospect of more married men becoming priests (Aleteia)

Pope Francis Approves Amazon Debate on Ordaining Married Men to the Priesthood (National Catholic Register)

I think the Aleteia headline is the most accurate, as it recognises the fact that there are already a hell of a lot of married priests within the Roman Church.

3John5918
Modificato: Giu 21, 2019, 10:35 am

Married men as priests? This could be the start of a Roman Catholic revolution (Guardian)

The Vatican has opened debate on ordaining married men to meet a shortage, showing its ability to be pragmatic and to react

Vatican formally opens debate on married priests in Amazon (AP)

The Vatican formally opened debate Monday on letting married men be ordained as priests in remote parts of the Amazon where priests are so few that Catholics can go weeks or months without attending a Mass.

The call for study on the proposal was contained in the working document, released Monday, for an October meeting of South American bishops on the Amazon.

The document, prepared by the Vatican based on input from the region, affirmed that celibacy is a gift for the Catholic Church.

But it suggested officials study “the possibility of priestly ordination for older men, preferably indigenous and respected and accepted by their communities, even if they have stable families, for the region’s most remote areas.”

The idea of ordaining so-called “viri probati” — married men of proven virtue — has been around for decades to cope with a priest shortage and decline in vocations overall. But it has drawn fresh attention under Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pope, thanks to his familiarity with the challenges facing the Amazon church...


Synod Document Raises Possibility of Married Priests, Roles for Women (Catholic News Service)

“Affirming that celibacy is a gift for the church, in order to ensure the sacraments for the most remote areas of the region, we are asked to study the possibility of priestly ordination for elders — preferably indigenous, respected and accepted by the community — even though they have an established and stable family,” said the document.

Published by the Vatican June 17, the document also said the church should consider “an official ministry that can be conferred upon women, taking into account the central role they play in the Amazonian church.”


It's worth reminding ourselves again that we already have married Catholic priests, both amongst Eastern rite Catholics but also in the western rite with the hundreds (thousands?) of former Anglican priests who have been (re-)ordained as married Roman Catholic priests. But this is indeed a welcome step forward for the Church to consider ordaining viri probati from within our own Church. And it is not only the Amazon region where "where priests are so few that Catholics can go weeks or months without attending a Mass" - the same could apply in many parts of Africa and probably elsewhere too.

4MyopicBookworm
Giu 23, 2019, 7:24 am

Of several reports that I heard, only one commentator pointed out that Eastern Rite Catholics already have married priests.

5margd
Ago 17, 2019, 11:34 am

Fr de Souza is at it again. First remarried folk, now married folk. Quoting disgraced Cardinal Pell yet....

The Amazon synod organisers are at odds with Pope Francis
Fr Raymond de Souza, Catholic Herald, August 15, 2019

In a recent interview granted to La Stampa, Pope Francis spoke about the Synod for the Amazon, which will take place in October. The Synod’s Instrumentum Laboris (IL) was released in June and has been subject to withering criticism since, in particular from Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

While most attention has been given to the proposed discussion of ordaining mature married men to the priesthood in remote areas, the IL has also been found wanting on theological grounds: Cardinal Müller and others believe it calls into question the universal mission of the Church and leans toward a pantheistic eco-spirituality.

It seems the IL even caused alarm in the Melbourne prison where Cardinal George Pell is being held pending his appeal. In a recent letter to his supporters, Cardinal Pell wrote that there is “reason to be disturbed” by the IL...

https://catholiccitizens.org/views/88542/the-amazon-synod-organisers-are-at-odds...

6John5918
Modificato: Set 13, 2019, 9:40 am

Marriage doesn’t solve the priest shortage, says head of Ukrainian Rite (Crux)

Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, has urged those considering allowing priests in the Latin rite to marry in order to help solve a crippling shortage, to proceed with caution, saying marriage has not curbed shortages in his own rite...

No doubt this will be seized on by Catholic groups who oppose any form of married clergy (conveniently forgetting that the Roman Catholic Church now has hundreds if not thousands of married former Anglican clergy), but it seems that the heart of the archbishop's message is not opposing married clergy (after all, he heads a church of married clergy) but simply that it is not by itself a panacea for shortage of priests. Insisting that the call to the priesthood comes from God alone, Archbishop Shevchuk said it is “a vocation which can neither be increased nor decreased based on the state in which this vocation is lived,” including whether the priest is married or celibate. Priesthood, he said, is “a way of offering one’s life for the good of the Church.”

Following from that premise, it seems to me that the Roman Catholic Church should concentrate on the vocation of priesthood that comes from God, irrespective of whether the one who receives the call is married or celibate (or indeed male or female, straight or gay). And of course we also need to revisit what that vocation actually is, as it has for too many centuries been shaped solely by celibate (or supposedly-celibate) males. These are exciting times!

7John5918
Set 17, 2019, 1:46 am

Amazon archbishop backs ordination of married priests (Crux)

According to a Spanish missionary archbishop who’s been in Ecuador since 1998, “We must thank God that there are still prophets like Pope Francis” who think about the future.

Specifically, the bishop backed the ordination of married men as priests in the Amazon, supporting the idea of calling
viri probati, or tested married men, into the priesthood to serve isolated rural communities...

The prelate said that a key issue the synod will deal with is the possibility of the Church in the Amazon, which includes parts of nine countries, shifting from a “clerical institution” to a “ministerial one.”

“We must start from the Christian vocation of baptism: Laity, religious and priests from one body and one family”...

The
viri probati, he said, are nothing new. On the contrary, Cob said, “the Church has had them from the beginning.”

Celibacy for Latin rite priests wasn’t mandatory before the Council of Nicaea in the fourth century, when the Church decided celibacy “was convenient” so priests could better live their vocation, “but it didn’t mean that there were no other alternatives.”

“The
viri probati respond to a very concrete challenge in the Amazon region, and it’s not meant to question the ordinary norm of celibacy”...

He insisted the Amazonian push for married priests is not about ending celibacy, but advocating, as a reaction to the region’s very specific reality, the possibility of ordaining elderly men who are married and highly respected by the community...

8John5918
Set 23, 2019, 12:48 am

Married priests are a possible option for the Amazon, says Vatican spokesman (Catholic Herald)

Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communications in the Vatican, said that married priests will be a subject of discussion during the upcoming synod of bishops on the Amazon, which will take place October 6-27 in Rome, but noted that the synod does not have the power to make decisions on the matter.

“The synod will discuss the possibility, for territories like the Amazon, to propose the ordination of married men. That is, the ordination of catechists, older persons who already have a role of responsibility in several communities. But it’s not a decision already made, nor is it certain that they synod will arrive at that decision.” Tornielli said in an interview on September 19.

“In any case it would not be a decision of the synod but it would be a decision of the pope”...

9John5918
Ott 27, 2019, 11:01 am

Cardinal Turkson Says Ordination of Married Men May be Subject of Further Study (ACI Africa)

Cardinal Peter Turkson said Monday that the ordination of married men will likely be the subject of further study for the universal Church after the Amazon synod.

“This issue will probably be made the subject matter of a more detailed study of the issue with view to the Church taking a consistent position, not only in view of the Amazon, but in view of the universal Church”...

10John5918
Nov 10, 2019, 12:24 am

Global debate gets underway over married Catholic priests (Crux)

Germany’s Catholics reacted enthusiastically when bishops from across the Amazon called for the ordination of married men as priests to address the clergy shortage in that region. Such reforms have been pushed for decades by many German bishops and lay groups who hope it can lead to the liberalization of centuries of Catholic tradition. There is resistance elsewhere for the proposal, however, with the conservative Catholic establishment making sure its voice is heard...

11LesMiserables
Dic 10, 2019, 5:01 am

German Catholic bishops react enthusiastically to any and every heresy come novelty.

12John5918
Modificato: Gen 15, 2020, 2:41 am

Ex-pope Benedict asks to be removed as co-author of book in priestly celibacy row (Guardian)

The former pope Benedict XVI has requested the removal of his name as the co-author of a controversial new book in which he spoke out against allowing married men to become priests as a dispute over its publication gripped the Vatican for a third day.

“I can confirm that this morning I acted on instructions from the emeritus pope and I asked Cardinal Robert Sarah to contact the book’s publishers and request them to remove Benedict XVI’s name as co-author of the book and remove his signature from the introduction and the conclusions too,” the retired pontiff’s personal secretary, Georg Gänswein, told the Italian news agency Ansa...

“Benedict did not approve a project for a co-authored book and he had not seen or authorised the cover” and therefore asked the publishers to remove Benedict’s name from the cover, the introduction and the conclusion.

“The pope emeritus knew that the cardinal was preparing a book and he sent him a text on the priesthood authorising him to use it as he wanted. But he did not approve a project for a co-authored book, and he had not seen or authorised the cover.”

Gänswein said it was “a misunderstanding that does not raise questions about Cardinal Sarah’s good faith...

The Vatican insisted the book was a mere “contribution” to the discussion about priestly celibacy written by two bishops in “filial obedience” to Francis.


Benedict removes name from book on celibacy after dispute over his involvement (NCR)

Retired Pope Benedict XVI's name is being removed as a coauthor of a controversial new book defending the Catholic Church's practice of clerical celibacy after dueling accounts emerged of the ex-pontiff's involvement in the preparation of the volume...

132wonderY
Gen 15, 2020, 10:25 am

>12 John5918: I would not trust Cardinal Sarah's motives and "good faith."

14margd
Gen 15, 2020, 11:15 am

Hope Benedict remains capable of defending against misuse of his name.

15John5918
Mar 14, 2023, 8:05 am

Pope Francis Discusses Revising Priestly Celibacy in New Interview (ACI Africa)

In a new interview, Pope Francis has discussed the possibility of revising the Western discipline of priestly celibacy. “There is no contradiction for a priest to marry. Celibacy in the Western Church is a temporary prescription: I do not know if it is settled in one way or another, but it is temporary in this sense,” Pope Francis said in an interview published on March 10. “It is not eternal like priestly ordination, which is forever, whether you like it or not. Whether you leave or not is another matter, but it is forever. On the other hand, celibacy is a discipline.” When asked by the Argentine journalist Daniel Hadad if celibacy “could be reviewed,” Pope Francis responded: “Yes, yes. In fact, everyone in the Eastern Church is married. Or those who want to. There they make a choice. Before ordination there is the choice to marry or to be celibate”... In response to the interviewer’s inquiry if the pope thought that making celibacy optional would lead more people to join the priesthood, Pope Francis said: “I do not think so,” noting that there are already married priests in the Catholic Church in the Eastern rites...


Worth remembering that apart from married Eastern Catholic priests, the western Catholic Church already has hundreds of married priests who converted from the Anglican Church and were re-ordained as married Catholic priests.

16John5918
Mar 18, 2023, 5:13 am

>15 John5918: No, Pope Francis Didn’t Really Hint That Priestly Celibacy Requirement Will Be Lifted (ACI Africa)

he said: “There is no contradiction for a priest to marry.” He called priestly celibacy “a temporary prescription” and said that it’s a prescription that could be reviewed. The Holy Father made clear what he meant by his words. He said that celibacy is a “temporary prescription” inasmuch as “it is not eternal like priestly ordination, which is forever.” Secular media outlets and even some Catholic news organizations immediately jumped to the conclusion that the pope is open to revising the discipline of celibacy and that he even might lift it. Of course, he said no such thing. When the requirement for celibacy was openly discussed at the 2020 Amazon Synod, Pope Francis chose not to even mention celibacy in his postsynodal exhortation. The interview provides an opportunity to ponder the priesthood and celibacy. The Church’s teaching on celibacy is different from her teaching on the indelible character of ordination and holy orders being reserved to men alone... Celibacy is in a different category...


One very open-minded African archbishop told me recently that the main reason he doesn't have married deacons in his archdiocese and is not rushing support the idea of married priests is basically the same as one of the major reasons why the western Church originally imposed celibacy, namely the cost to the Church of maintaining a married priest or deacon's wife and children.

17margd
Modificato: Mar 18, 2023, 6:14 am

Surely someone has studied outcomes of celibate RC priesthood v married priests in Anglican, Orthodox, (the few married RC) traditions?

Married laymen do better than single by (most?) measures?

Might even be cheaper, helpful overall to the Church to allow priests to marry?

18MarthaJeanne
Mar 18, 2023, 6:29 am

I can remember in my childhood a Protestant candidate for ordination was at risk of being refused. He was gay, but that in itself was not the problem. "How can you expect to run a parish without a minister's wife?" His reply was to say that he thought it was unacceptable for the church to hire the husband and think that it therefore also had the right to his wife's full time efforts.

He was ordained. The vote only came after those involved had spoken with their wives, and none of them dared vote against him.

19margd
Modificato: Mar 18, 2023, 7:35 am

Maybe add married RC deacons to the study? Deacon's wife in husband's family sure gives a lot of free service, but I suspect she did so before husband was ordained? Is there a stereotype?

>18 MarthaJeanne: A bit like military wives (spouses nowadays)? Their service is forgoing career possibilities? But maybe for the most part, traditional wife-mothers or sought after nurse-teachers or soldiers themselves marry soldiers? Some other careers now possible online?

20John5918
Mar 18, 2023, 9:25 am

I don't actually know whether there has been any decent research on both the costs and the efficacy of a married Catholic priesthood. There's certainly plenty of potential data out there now both from married Eastern Rite Catholic priests and from former Anglican priests who became married Roman Catholic priests, to say nothing of the clergy of the Orthodox Church and just about every protestant denomination. Maybe it's just one of those things that nobody has really bothered to look into and they just assume that it will cost more without any evidence one way or the other?

21margd
Gen 8, 4:47 am

Senior Vatican official makes case for a married priesthood
Philip Pullella | January 8, 2024

The Roman Catholic Church should "seriously think" about allowing priests to marry, a senior Vatican official and advisor to Pope Francis {Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who is also adjunct secretary in the Vatican's doctrinal office} said in an interview published on Sunday...

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/senior-vatican-official-makes-case-married-...

22John5918
Gen 8, 6:46 am

Thanks for posting here. I had forgotten about this thread and had posted it in the Current Catholic Issues thread.

23John5918
Gen 18, 11:32 pm

Two recent articles from the Catholic Herald in the UK, generally considered to be towards the moderately "conservative" end of the Catholic spectrum.

Call for married Catholic priests will find an audience, says former Irish president

Mary McAleese, the former president of the Republic of Ireland, has backed calls for the Catholic Church to end priestly celibacy. Similar comments were recently made by an archbishop close to Pope Francis. McAleese, currently chancellor of Trinity University, spoke to The Irish News after Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who also serves as an adjunct secretary of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, called for allowing married priests. “I am delighted {Scicluna} came out and said it because he is regarded very, very highly by pretty much everybody in the Church,” McAleese told the Irish newspaper. She noted that Scicluna was tasked in 2018 with investigating allegations of a sexual abuse cover-up in Chile. “It established his credentials and integrity,” McAleese said. “When he speaks, people listen.” She also noted that Pope Francis has agreed there is no formal Church doctrine on celibacy and marriage, and that he discussed how a future pontiff may change the rules, though he has decided not to do so. McAleese told the newspaper she believes the most “interesting possibilities” for the next pope are from what she called the “excellent leadership” in Belgium and Germany...


In the face of calls to abolish, the Church must remember clerical celibacy is a gift from God

Early texts, such as the third century De singularitate clericorum (“On priests’ living alone”)... describe clerical celibacy not simply as a discipline imposed from without, but as a gift of God received within. This has been my experience of priestly celibacy: a gift put into my heart by God, not simply a canonical obligation applied externally. When I first thought of being a priest, celibacy was not very attractive; it seemed a necessary sacrifice in order to get ordained. But the more I read, especially St John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, the more I saw it as a positive grace rather than simply a negation... This gift of priestly celibacy cannot be manufactured by the priest himself, it can only be received... Without prayer, though; without loyalty to his bishop and without priestly friendships, celibacy becomes a burden rather than a heart-expanding joy. There have been priests in the past who have accepted celibacy externally but without the inner transformation Christ wanted for them, and this has led to problems of various kinds. But the answer to these problems is to renew our gratitude for the gift of priestly celibacy by receiving it authentically for what it really is, the privilege of sharing in Jesus’ fatherly love for his children...


But the reality is that there are many many Catholic priests "who have accepted celibacy externally but without the inner transformation Christ wanted for them". The inner conversion of which he speaks may indeed be desirable, but is not something that can be forced. So for some, "the answer to these problems" is indeed as he recommends. But for others, and for many men (and women) who feel called to the priesthood, why not consider the remedy adopted by the Eastern Catholic Church, allowing married priests, as we have already done in allowing married former Anglican priests to be re-ordained as married Catholic clergy? Why does it have to be either/or? In reality we already have married priests working alongside celibate priests; why not simply expand this arrangement?

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