This followed reports that Pope Francis would like bishops' conferences to achieve consensus and put forward reform ideas to Rome.

The Pope reportedly made this suggestion to a bishop from a remote diocese in Brazil.

During the same papal audience, Bishop Erwin Krautler told media he had discussed the possibility of ordaining "viri probati" - proven married men - with Pope Francis.

The Bishop of Brentwood, Thomas McMahon, the Bishop of Hexam and Newcastle, Seamus Cunningham and the Bishop of Menevia, Tom Burns, spoke out on the subject.

Bishop McMahon told UK weekly The Tablet that his personal experience of married priests is a very good one.

His diocese has about 20 former Anglican priests, many of whom are married.

"People look to their priest as a man of God, to lead them to God," Bishop McMahon said.

"If he is a real pastor at their service, then it is rather secondary as to whether he is married or not."

Bishop Cunningham said ordaining married men as priests could relieve clergy shortages.

A spokesman for Bishop Cunningham said he would be making his views known to the bishops' conference, who to meet in Low Week.

"He feels that such a move would enable the Church to make greater use of the many gifts which married men could bring to ordained ministry . . . ." the spokesman said.

Bishop Burns argued that a married priesthood would be a witness to marriage and family life.

Married priests would also bring a wider experience and understanding to priestly ministry, he said.

Bishop McMahon added, however, that married clergy would not be a "total answer" to the shortage of priests and that the discipline of celibacy should not be diminished.

A spokesman for the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales said it would not be appropriate to comment on a private conversation between the Pope and an individual bishop.

Meanwhile, the Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland warned that the Church must ordain married men or face a "eucharistic famine".

Sources

The Tablet
National Catholic Reporter
Irish Independent
Image: Patheos

Bishop Tom Burns of Menevia said the UK bishops should publish the findings of the survey.

It asked questions on cohabitation, contraception and same-sex marriage.

This is in the interests of transparency, he said.

In an article for The Tablet, Bishop Burns notes "the height and depth and width of the intense pleas made by God's people for urgent attention to their pastoral needs".

"Publish and be delighted!" wrote Bishop Burns in defiance of the England and Wales bishops' conference's insistence that it would not be publishing the survey results, at the request of the Vatican.

He said they should follow the lead of the bishops in Germany and Switzerland who have published the survey's findings.

In total, 16,500 responded to the survey in England and Wales, including many lapsed Catholics.

Eighty percent of those who filled out questions about Communion for the divorced and remarried, same-sex marriage, and contraception were laypeople and 69 percent were married.

An editorial in the The Tablet argued: "The failure to inform English and Welsh Catholics how their views have been summarised comes close to a breach of faith."

One lay Catholic wrote to Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster to ask: "Can you explain why we are not being given access to the results which is, in fact, our data?"

In the United States, a Pew Research study found a majority of American Catholics favour changes to Church teaching, but few expect this to happen.

Sources:

• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Catholic Culture
• Image: The Guardian