Though a small number of Roman
Catholic priests already exist including previously married Anglican vicars who
have joined the church, Pope Francis has
requested that Catholic priests be given the right to get married, a request
which also applies to priests in Brazil, and is said to be on the agenda for an
upcoming synod (church council) in the Amazon region.
The pontiff took the decision to put
a partial lifting of priestly celibacy up for discussion and a possible vote by
Brazilian bishops following a request made by Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the
president of the Episcopal Commission for the Amazon, Il Messaggero newspaper
quoted the sources saying.
Cardinal Hummes reportedly asked
Francis to consider ordaining so-called viri probati, married men of great
faith, capable of ministering spiritually to the many remote communities in the
Amazon where there is a shortage of priests, and evangelical Christians and
pagan sects are displacing Catholicism. He has also suggested that the bishops
attending the synod in 2019 on the Amazon, now being prepared in Rome, should
consider ordaining women deacons as priests.
In an interview with Germany’s Die
Zeit newspaper, the pontiff said “We must consider if viri probati is a
possibility. Then we must determine what tasks they can perform, for example,
in remote communities,” he said.
In the Amazon region, for instance,
there is just one priest for every 10,000 Catholics.
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