Voluntary celibacy or marriage – the call for priests to be able to choose which state they prefer is growing stronger in Germany. German bishops’ conference president Bishop Georg Bätzing (pictured) and Archbishop Ludwig Schick have added their support to Cardinal Reinhard Marx who spoke strongly in favour of voluntary celibacy at the beginning of Read more
Lack of prayerful discernment is the reason Pope Francis said no to the Amazon synod’s suggestion that the Catholic Church should allow priests to be married. The question of addressing a priest shortage in the Amazon by ordaining older, mature and married men (viri probati) from local communities was one of the issues raised at Read more
It seems that every few months we begin talking again about the chronic shortage of presbyters in the many parts of the Catholic world today. Then someone suggests the ordination of suitable married men, Viri Probati. But after some discussion, a solidly based argument (not based on dubious notions of ritual purity) is presented: how Read more
The door is still open on married priests and women deacons. Although Pope Francis’s exhortation on the Amazon bypasses making decisions about women deacons and married priests, there is still room to move, say number of the pope’s close advisors. In the post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Querida Amazonia (Beloved Amazon), Pope Francis released last week , Read more
A new document by Pope Francis slams countries and companies exploiting the Amazon region and calls on the Catholic Church to find new paths and methods to minister to its indigenous people. But those new paths do not include the ordination of married men to the priesthood in the region. The document, called “Querida Amazonia” Read more
Vatican guidelines for the way the Church should treat children of priests have been released after after a meeting with Vincent Doyle, a prominent campaigner on the issue. Doyle, whose father was a priest, is a member of Coping International, an organisation that campaigns for the rights of priests’ children. Although the guidelines are not Read more
Three issues coming out of the Amazon synod’s final document include ordaining married men to the priesthood, the female diaconate and creating an Amazonian Rite. Two-thirds of the 180 bishops at the synod approved all the 140-paragraph document’s findings, which they voted on paragraph by paragraph. One of the document’s main focuses further including laity Read more
It is amazing what a synod can do for a person. German Bishop Fritz Lobinger, a 90-year-old retired missionary bishop in South Africa, has suddenly become the talk of Rome. Lobinger’s idea of ordained elders in order to provide local communities regular access to the sacraments has been the root of discussions about “married priests” Read more
Climate change, water resources, inculturation and indigenous practices were among the topics discussed during the Amazon Synod’s Sunday afternoon session. A general summary of the topics discussed during the closed-door session has been published. Some of the discussions focused on ordaining married men. It was described as a “legitimate need” but one which “cannot affect Read more
At dusk in this small indigenous village, Antelmo Pereira calls local Catholics to prayer, changes into a white robe and leads a religious service that is the closest thing the faithful in this remote part of the Amazon can get to a proper Mass. Speaking in the indigenous Ticuna language, he leads a recital of Read more