Posted on 06/11/2014 9:04:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
ROME — Pope Francis says he believes 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 Monday 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...
Wow, Pope got better fast!
Plus the Eastern Rites do permit married priests.
I know one young Catholic priest in his mid 30’s who women would absolutely fall for.
This story continues to recycle via different media outlets. Why keep reposting it?
Only if they are already married, IIRC. I think a Metropolitan cannot be married.
Accordingly, The RCC is cooked, both sides and done.
Ok, that’s a start...what’s the pay again?
St. Peter himself was married.
The discipline of celibacy is generally followed in the Roman Rite - but many other Catholic churches such as the Melkite have always had married priests.
And there are exceptions - for example, for Anglican priests who were already married when they were ordained as Catholic priests.
It is a prudential concern, though, for the reasons stated by St. Paul - a married man has his wife and children to think of (just ask the Methodists - my grandfather-in-law was a Methodist minister and he was transferred every couple of years, sometimes to very out of the way places. He had to work several jobs as well as ministry to make ends meet. His wife and kids put up with a lot!)
In the smaller bodies such as the Melkite & Anglican Use that is not so much of a concern, but in the larger Roman rite generally where men are transferred hither and yon, and many congregations barely have the means to support a priest, let alone a wife and children, it really isn't workable.
Most of the Anglican priests who have come over have been found jobs in the chanceries or other ministries rather than parishes.
Yes, but neither the Orthodox nor the Eastern Rite Unitates (nor for that matter the Monophysites nor the Nestorians) permit priests to marry. Married men may be ordained to the priesthood (with the wife’s consent), but priests (or, for that matter deacons and subdeacons) may not marry after ordination without being laicized.
Permitting priests (or even deacons or subdeacons) to marry (as opposed to married men being ordained to the priesthood) would actually be an impediment to reunion with the Orthodox.
I appreciate tradition, but this non-Catholic think it would not be bad if priests could marry.
There are some serious logistical problems with the concept. See my post above -
Centuries of Catholic tradition proves on married clergy simply, this— what’s the point of it? It’s a politically manufactured issue from mischief makers. Surveys among priests show no interest in the question.
Of course in seminaries younger minds can be turned, just as say, parents dressing their daughters in the new “slut fashions”. Where behavior modification is allowed to rule, then it these things are made to be “normalized”.
Same with conservatives sending their kids into public schools, into Common Core and socialist influence and expecting a different result. Astounding.
St. Peter himself was married.
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Yeah, but Peter was not a Catholic. So its cool.
The Liberation Theologist Pope must have forgotten that the ‘back door’(nasty pun intended) to ‘marriage’ was always available to the priests, thanks to a few Top Theologians(another such pun) allowing a “Queer Qulture” to flourish at a few seminaries(no pun this time).
One must assume such behavior will not be acceptable at a certain “Judgement”. It certainly was not to alter boys, etc.
The Catholic Church can no more afford such behavior than can America. Certain Commandments carry certain punishment here and now, based on the inherent order of the universe.
Perversion is destructive, to religious organizations and to the families which are the core foundation upon which Judao-Christian nations are predicated.
BAH! HUMBUGGERY!
RE: I appreciate tradition, but this non-Catholic think it would not be bad if priests could marry.
Can you elaborate?
Celibacy is a gift not a curse
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