Tossati: "Priest Shortage? This Pope Gives no Incentive for Young Men"

(Rome) The question of the lack of priests, the abolition of celibacy as a prerequisite for the priesthood, and the admission of married men to the ordination of priests are now again discussed with particular insistence. In yesterday's edition of the La Vanguardia newspaper, their correspondent in Rome, Eusebio Val, published two full pages of an extensive report entitled "The Hour of Married Priests?" A reportage that allows interesting voices to be heard.

Snapshot at a priest's consecration: "Pray for priestly vocations"

La Vanguardia, Catalonia 's largest daily newspaper, also reported on the positions of two leading Vatican officials, Sandro Magister and Marco Tosatti, both of whom are critical of the pontificate of Pope Francis. Both argue that the Argentine pope really insists that the abolition of celibacy is "not a solution" for the priestly shortage, but at the same time, in his own environment, a way of overcoming the priestly shortage which forsees the abolition of priestly celibacy.

The daily newspaper cites the Vaticanista Sandro Magister statement to Pope Francis:

"He always speaks in an ambiguous way. We should not be surprised. This is his style. The ambiguity opens a gap in order to discuss something, and then, in the end, to decide in the end. "

No less critical was Marco Tosatti. Pope Francis did not contribute to the promotion of priestly vocations and correcting the priestly shortage:

"It seems obvious to me that this pope is not providing an incentive for young men (towards the priesthood). The numbers say that, and you can not discuss numbers."

Religious orders and communities, such as the Franciscans of the Immaculate or the Priestly Society of the Holy Apostles, have many vocations." But this is exactly why they "are today attacked by their bishop or the pope."

And further:

"If young men join them [communities and orders], and you have one thing over their heads, then you can not expect vocations to arise in other places."

For both Vaticanistas, says La Vanguardia , the question of how the priestly deficit can be remedied is not about "liberalizing or relativizing the doctrine of the Church, but the exact opposite." The young people who have a calling feel serious and want to be taken seriously. They do not want the same thing in the Church that they can find elsewhere. They commit themselves for a lifetime. They must do this for what is worthwhile and not merely for a general discourse of goodness and solidarity. They are looking for more and they do not find it at the moment. That seems obvious to me."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL / Blog do Fernando (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG