[Yahoo] Pope Francis has requested that Roman Catholic priests be given the right to get married.
The request applies to priests in Brazil, and is on the agenda for an upcoming synod (church council) in the Amazon region.
The controversial move would address the critical shortage of men joining the priesthood – but is likely to drive divisions through the church by enraging conservative factions.
A small number of married Roman Catholic priests already exist, including previously married Anglican vicars who have joined the church.
A request to lift the ban on marriage was made by Brazilian bishop Cardinal Claudio Hummes, who reportedly asked the Pope to consider ‘viri probati’, meaning married of great faith, as priests.
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AMDG
3 comments:
Old news again. The 'request' referred to was made by Bishop Erwin Krautler whose diocese covers an enormous area of jungle in Brazil. He has very few priests for a relatively large, widely spread out population.
Krautler asked Pope Francis if he might be given permission to ordain 'viri probati' to the priesthood. Francis told him to put the proposal to the Brazilian Episcopal conference and if consensus was reached, to bring the request to him.
The Orthodox have married clergy as the norm for parishes so don't make a mountain out of a molehill!
The pope is requesting? Requesting from whom? He is the head of the Church, so who is he requesting? This article is either misleading or the author has English as a second language.
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