'Pope Francis continues to be trailblazer by looking to nix celibacy requirement, allow priests to marry'

[AdamSmith]

Pope Francis continues to be trailblazer by looking to nix celibacy requirement, allow priests to marry

In translations of a recent interview, the Pope is quoted as saying he will find a 'solution' to the problem of celibacy — a major shift in the Vatican, which in the past has been intractable on the requirement for priests.

BY Denis Hamill

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, July 14, 2014, 9:17 PM

It looks like Pope Francis is rethinking the idea of celibacy for clergy, and it’s about time.

In a recent interview with the founder of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Pope Francis was asked about the church’s sex scandals and the requirement that priests be celibate.

The La Repubblica story was picked up by major news outlets worldwide. “Report: Pope Francis Raises Idea of ‘Solutions’ to Clergy Celibacy,” was the headline on Time magazine’s website.

The Vatican then sounded a cautionary note, saying La Repubblica’s article — which also claimed the pontiff said about 2% of Catholic priests are pedophiles — might not quote Pope Francis’ exact words, but reflected the “sense and spirit” of his feelings.

Still, translations of the article said the Pope recalled that celibacy was adopted 900 years after the death of Jesus Christ and pointed out that the Eastern Catholic Church allows its priests to marry.

“The problem certainly exists, but it is not on a large scale,” La Repubblica quotes Francis as saying. “It will need time, but the solutions are there and I will find them.”

Even if these quotes are merely in the “sense and spirit” of the Pope’s beliefs, this is a major shift in the Vatican, which in the past has been intractable on celibacy for priests.

As a parent with a kid in Catholic school for the past nine years, I’ve heard countless other parents say almost unanimously that one major step toward preventing future sex scandals in the church is ending celibacy.

Privately, most priests I know agree. “Pope Francis is a breath of fresh air,” says one seasoned priest. “This is a fascinating time in church history because of him. He’s out there in the sunshine, tackling big issues, dragging the church into the 21st century, on the cover of Time, speaking to the young. Most older priests I know are open to optional celibacy. Look, we accept converted, married Anglican priests. The Eastern Catholic priests can marry. Why not all priests?”

In Monday’s edition of Irish Central, a daily Irish-American blog, a story by Patrick Roberts headlined “Pope Hints Time is Coming for Married Priests,” reports, “It would not be before time with numbers of priests dropping dramatically all over the world and celibacy blamed as the major factor. In 2012, just 12 men applied for the priesthood in Ireland. By 2040, it is estimated ... there will only be 400 odd priests in Ireland compared to 2,300 now.”

Just as he was right about professing tolerance for homosexuals, Pope Francis is on the right track in seeking a “solution” for celibacy.

Celibacy is not dogma, or of “divine origin.” It’s a church rule.

The first Pope, St. Peter the Apostle, was married. So were four other Popes. Eleven more Popes were the sons of other Popes or clergy. Celibacy was optional for priests until it was voted a Vatican rule at the First Lateran Council of 1123.

Many church historians believe the celibacy rule was a business decision. The Vatican simply did not want priests to marry and have heirs because they wanted all the clergy’s property and wealth to be bequeathed to Rome.

But Francis might be the most Christian Pope since St. Peter, a true vicar of Christ on Earth. His deep compassion for the poor, hungry, sick, afflicted, and persecuted earned him Time’s designation as Person of the Year.

Tackling the sex scandals head-on instead of sweeping them under a velvet Vatican rug led many lapsed Catholics to a renewed respect for the papacy and their wounded church that Francis is trying to revitalize.

In his 2012 book, the pontiff wrote, “For the moment, I’m in favor of maintaining celibacy, with its pros and cons, because there have been 10 centuries of good experiences rather than failures . ... But it is a question of discipline, not faith, and it could change.”

On Sunday, Pope Francis’ interview in La Repubblica suggests that change is coming as he seeks a solution to problems caused by celibacy. “I’m not sure I’ll see it in my lifetime,” says the local priest I spoke with on Monday. “But Pope Francis will lay the groundwork for ending the celibacy rule in the not-so-distant future. And it’s a good and welcome thing for the church.”

Most Catholics I know agree.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/hamill-pope-francis-nix-celebacy-requirement-article-1.1866762

[AdamSmith]

Pope's hints on married priests trouble Vatican

By Olivier BAUBE 6 hours ago

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis's hints about a possible opening on the issue of married priests are sowing confusion in the Vatican and among Catholic reformists and conservatives alike.

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Twice in three months, Francis has talked about changes to the tradition of celibate priests -- although he has never been precise about how exactly this could be reformed.

On a flight back from his trip to the Middle East, Francis pointed out that there were already married priests in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Coptic Catholic churches.

"The door is always open but we are not talking about it now as the order of the day," the Argentine pontiff said.

It is a priority, however, for the dozens of campaign groups that have sprung up -- many formed by men who have been forced to leave the priesthood to get married.

The European Federation of Married Catholic Priests estimated more than 100,000 former Catholic priests have got married over the years -- a figure which would make up around a quarter of the number of current priests.

Earlier this year, 26 women who said they were in love with priests living in Italy, wrote an open letter to the pope asking for a Vatican audience and speaking of their "suffering" because of the secret lives they have to lead.

Vatican expert Andrea Tornielli said at the time that Francis was particularly sensitive to the issue as, when he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires, he was close to an Argentine bishop who renounced the priesthood for love.

The pope's comments over the weekend have had the effect of a new bombshell after La Repubblica daily in an interview quoted him as saying on priestly celibacy: "There are solutions and I will find them."

The comments were immediately denied by Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi who said that the interviewer -- the newspaper's 90-year-old founder, Eugenio Scalfari -- had not written down the exact quotations.

"This is not at all an interview in the normal sense of the word," Lombardi said of the one-to-one conversation between Francis and Scalfari, even accusing the newspaper of manipulating "naive readers" with inaccuracies.

It was the second time that a papal interview with Scalfari has raised some hackles in the Vatican, leading to the question of whether the pope could be using these conservations as a way of bypassing traditional Vatican communications.

Father Papas Jani Pecoraro, an Italy-based married priest from the Greek Byzantine church, which is under Vatican authority, welcomed the pope's reported comments.

Speaking to La Repubblica, he said: "The issue could not only change the relationship between the Catholic Church and the lay world but also with other churches."

"We have to read the times and there is no doubt that today's society raises questions that a married priest is definitely better able to cope with," he said.

A Vatican expert, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that as a whole Francis was seen as "an open pope".

"With his arrival, the progressives in the Church have regained hope," he said.

But a Vatican source said that merely pointing out that priestly celibacy is not a dogma was "no great discovery" and called for greater caution on over-interpreting papal comments.

The source said: "Some questions have been raised but this should not be seen as messages being passed on."

In the Repubblica interview, Francis pointed out that the ban on married priests was only instituted in the 10th century -- nine centuries after the death of Jesus Christ.

"The pope is sensitive to the issue," said the Vatican expert, although many observers are puzzled as to what kinds of "solutions" the pope could have in mind and few are expecting major changes any time soon.

http://news.yahoo.com/popes-hints-married-priests-trouble-vatican-054617410.html