Pope says favors celibacy for priests but door open to change

Chicago Tribune ^ | 05/26/2014 | Reuters

[GIdget2004]

Pope Francis on Monday said he believed that Roman Catholic priests should be celibate but the rule was not an unchangeable dogma, and "the door is always open" to change.

Francis made similar comments when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires but his remarks to reporters on a plane returning from a Middle East trip were the first he has made since becoming pope.

"Celibacy is not a dogma," he said in answer to a question about whether the Catholic Church could some day allow priests to marry as they can in some other Christian Churches.

"It is a rule of life that I appreciate very much and I think it is a gift for the Church but since it is not a dogma, the door is always open," he said.

The Church teaches that a priest should dedicate himself totally to his vocation, essentially taking the Church as his spouse, in order to help fulfill its mission.

However while priestly celibacy is a tradition going back around 1,000 years, it is not considered dogma, or an unchangeable piece of Church teaching.

[Romulus]

What makes us Christians is that we all believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and was resurrected on the Third Day.

Uh, no.

[Romulus]

I’m for sticking with Bible as close as possible, that is where you will find the truth.

That's not what the Bible says.

[Romulus]

The limit is departure from valid form and/or valid matter. Using doritos invalidates. Dressing the priest as the Frito Bandito doesn’t.

[steve86]

Then why not drop all rubrics and bring in the beer and hookers? You’d attract lots of non-Christians ripe for conversion that way /sarc

I am currently reading an article on liturgical abuses and it points out early on that some contemporary abuses are serious enough to invalidate the Mass (due to lack of proper form, I guess).

[stanne]

Oh I don’t think its hyperbole to call them crimes. And They certainly tempt me to the sin of anger which is one of the tricks of tge enemy

[Romulus]

Then why not drop all rubrics and bring in the beer and hookers?

Because the bare minimum standard for technical validity is the wrong approach to take. we should be asking ourselves what's the most and best we can do, not the least and shabbiest. I'm sure you agree.

I have no doubt that some abuses are grave enough to invalidate. Mixing honey or other foreign matter (non wheat flour) into the bread dough. Using "creative" words at the consecration.

[ELS]

Jesus glorifies the institution of marriage.

So much so that He got married ... oh wait, He didn't get married and He is the High Priest. Have you ever heard of imitation of Christ?

[onedoug]

Thomas a Kempis

Read it many years ago, and still have it.