Pope Francis Open To Ordaining Married Men As Priests
Pope Francis [/caption]
Pope Francis has stirred Catholics around the world after suggesting he might consider ordaining married men who could work in rural areas faced with shortage of clergy.
Pope Francis is the 266th and current Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, a title he holds ex officio as Bishop of Rome, and sovereign of Vatican City.
Speaking in an interview with German newspaper Die Zeit, the Pope made reference to older married men who are already involved in church business.
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As part requirements to be ordained a Catholic Priest, the individual must take a vow of celibacy, which has been one of the church’s most stringent rules.
“We must think about whether viri probati are a possibility,” Francis said.
“Then we have to decide what tasks they can take on, for example in remote communities,” he added.
Francis said allowing priests in training to choose whether or not to be celibate was “not the solution”.
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Countries such as Brazil have large Catholic populations but few priests, so some people have been looking for ways to expand the clergy’s ranks. In particular, the AP reported that Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes, who is a friend of Francis, would like the church to allow viri probati in South America due to the high number of Catholics.
