Married Priests? At the Gregorian They’re Voting Against

Chiesa ^ | 02-04-2016 | Sandro Magister

[NRx]

Cardinals Parolin and Ouellet are lining up in defense of the celibacy of the Latin clergy, in a conference at the prestigious pontifical university. But once again the pope has let the German bishops know that he wants to break with this tradition

by Sandro Magister

ROME, February 4, 2016 - This afternoon at the Pontifical Gregorian University a conference will get underway that in many respects is surprising,

The surprise comes first of all from the theme: "Priestly celibacy, a journey of freedom." A theme in stark contrast with the ever more frequent signals of an imminent relaxation of the discipline of celibacy for the Latin Catholic clergy, at the behest of Pope Francis:

> The Next Synod Is Already in the Works. On Married Priests (9.12.2015)

But also unusual is the status of the personalities who will speak at the conference.

The first speaker will be Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the congregation for bishops, who will talk about "Celibacy and Christ's nuptial bond with the Church." Ouellet belongs to the Society of Priests of Saint Sulpice, which has always been focused on the formation of candidates for the priesthood and the spiritual care of the clergy.

But the final speaker, on the morning of Saturday, February 6, will be Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, who will talk about "The priest ordained 'in persona Christi.'"

And right before Parolin the speaker will be Archbishop Joël Mercier, secretary of the Vatican congregation for the clergy, who will illustrate the 1967 encyclical of Paul VI "Sacerdotalis Caelibatus" as "entirely valid in our own time as well."

The complete program of the conference, curated by Monsignor Tony Anatrella, a psychiatrist and priest of the diocese of Paris, where he is also a professor at the Collège des Bernardins, is on the website of the Gregorian, the most prestigious of the Roman pontifical universities, managed by the Society of Jesus and currently headed by Fr. François-Xavier Dumortier, a relator at the synod last October in the "Circulus gallicus B" headed by Cardinal Robert Sarah, certainly not an innovator:

> Il celibato sacerdotale, un cammino di libertà

*

The latest signal of Pope Francis's intention to proceed with the ordination of married men to the priesthood came a few days ago from Germany, as was also the case with previous signals:

> Married Priests. The Germany-Brazil Axis (12.1.2016)

This time, the interpreter of pope Jorge Mario Bergoglio's thought was the auxiliary bishop of Hamburg Hans-Jochen Jaschke, in an appearance on the television talk show "Nachtcafe."

Jaschke, in recounting the meeting between the German bishops and the pope last November 20, said that when the discussion turned to the hypothesis of resorting to married priests in order to celebrate Mass in far-flung regions with a scarcity of clergy, especially in Latin America, Francis "made no sign of refusal."

Of course, Jaschke added during the broadcast, the pope "is not a dictator" and will act so as to make such innovations "universally acceptable" to the Church as a whole. But the fact that he wants to proceed in this direction would seem to be a certainty.

These statements of the auxiliary bishop of Hamburg - together with others in favor of "a relaxed approach to the issue of homosexuality" - were reported on February 1 on Katholisch.de, the portal of the German episcopal conference:

> "Der Papst hat nicht abgewunken"

A rumor is also making the rounds among the bishops of Germany that while on his journey to Mexico in mid-February Francis is thinking of ordaining as priests several married deacons of the diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, in Chiapas.

But the first to contradict this rumor was the bishop of that diocese, Felipe Arzmendi Esquivel:

> The Other Chiapas. Indigenous Clergy Yes, But Celibate (12.12.2015)

And the next was the master of pontifical liturgical celebrations Guido Marini, who assured this website that during the journey to Mexico "at no Mass will the pope conduct ordinations."

*

In any case, the November 20 meeting between the German bishops and the pope has left a rather lively aftermath, even apart from the question of married priests.

As he almost always does at the end of visits "ad limina," this time as well Francis did not read the speech prepared for the occasion, but simply gave out the text, preferring to spend the time in an informal conversation.

Only that when the German bishops read that text addressed to them, they found it tremendously punitive.

And it's perfectly true. In the written text there is an implacable harangue against all the disasters produced in recent years by the pastors of the Church of Germany, culminating in a genuine "erosion of the Catholic faith":

> "Dear Brothers..."

And in fact Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and president of the German bishops, as well as being a member of the council of nine cardinals who assist the pope, says that he asked Francis about that speech and was assured that he knew nothing about the text, and hadn't even read it.

In effect, there was not even a trace of Bergoglio's style, nor of his fondness for the German episcopate, in that text which instead seemed to have come from the "workshop" of Benedict XVI, almost a sequel to the memorable rebuke that he issued in Freiburg on September 25, 2011, to a German Church excessively "satisfied with itself and at ease with the criteria of the world," instead of with "her vocation to openness towards God, her vocation to opening up the world towards the other":

> "Dear Brother Bishops and Priests..."

Returning to the speech disowned by Pope Francis, if one really wants to assign it to an author the imagination goes straight to Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, a countryman and longstanding adversary of the reformist Marx, in addition to being the little-heeded guardian, today, of the dogma and discipline of the Church.

[ebb tide]

Been done in the Protestant community for years.

Some protestant churches have approved same-sex marriage, birth control and/or abortion. Does that mean the Roman Catholic Church has to follow suit?

[Biggirl]

No, it means marriage between one man and one woman only.

[ebb tide]

You were responding to a poster’s comment on married Latin rite priests, not homo marriage.

[Biggirl]

Maybe I should try to type so you will understand better.

There have been for years married ministers in the Protestant churches.

[humblegunner]

Maybe I should try to type so you will understand better.

Yes, you should.

That would help all English speaking people.

They all cry for you to write properly.

[Biggirl]

This is as good as it will be. Deal with it.

[humblegunner]

This is as good as it will be.

I have faith in you.
If you try and study and learn you might one day be more than a potato.

It CAN be better.. surely there are programs available to help unfortunate people like you.

[Biggirl]

Case is close. Done.

[humblegunner]

Case is close.

Close to what? The wall? Is the case close to the wall?

Or did you mean "closed"?

See, that's my point.

You're not really qualified to be writing anything because clearly you can't do it properly.

[Biggirl]

Done. Finished. Bye.

Please do not post to me ever again. Thank-you.

[humblegunner]

Please do not post to me ever again.

Why not?

[ebb tide]

Are you a Protestant or a Catholic? If the latter, why not become a Protestant; you might be happier?

[Biggirl]

Catholic who is simply is telling the truth. Bye!

[JAKraig]

Why do you think the most liberal Catholics, the ones that support priestesses, homosexuals clergy in relationships, and ‘gay marriage’ invariably want the discipline to end? I think they believe the Catholics will end up like the Anglicans and Episcopalians, not the Orthodox. I mean, why haven’t the liberal groups that have been pro-homosexual for 10 plus years instituted the discipline of celibacy, if it promotes all the stuff they want?

Freegards

_______________________________________________________

Anglicans and all of Christianity in western Europe has fallen into non-religious standards, that is due to socialism. Western Europeans seldom go to church even though they identify themselves as Christians they do it just barely.

The reason liberal clergy want standards as we now have them is because of a hope of increased membership and attendance at church. The churches are dying, the membership and worst of all donations are drying up. If everybody was welcomed they assume membership would go up, it doesn't. It may briefly but eventually believers stop coming and all that is left is the non-believers who wanted legitimacy. Once the believers stop coming the legitimacy is lost.

In the east because there were few freedoms people held on to things they could not have and admired standards that were even sometimes illegal.

The one thing that Celibacy gives a homosexual is legitimacy. Many parishioners know their priest is either gay or effeminate but they don't know if he is practicing his homosexuality or just dealing with it and remaining celibate. They hope for the latter.

Some people have a legitimate attraction for same sex. Other people have a real attraction for children. There many attractions that humans have to deal with and most do successfully deal with it. The problem is that sexual attraction and desire are overpowering feelings that require satisfaction at some point and even then return. I have some feelings of sadness for people who have these problems just like I have for some people that have other incurable diseases. There is a difference though, the person with the incurable disease can do nothing about it, the person with same sex attraction can and most usually do satisfy themselves with a heterosexual relationship. It may not be as satisfying as a homosexual relationship but it leads to a “happy” life with natural children and “normal” life.

I have much admiration for people with same sex attraction that lead normal, heterosexual lives. I believe that acting on feelings that will end up causing harm is stupid. We don't allow the pedophile to act on his feelings for any number of reasons, in my opinion it should be the same for homosexuals and has been for most of mankind's existence.

It used to be called “queer” and “unnatural”, it is queer and unnatural to act on same sex attraction. It is even more queer for those who represent God to do so.

[Ransomed]

Celibacy only potentially gives homosexuals legitimacy if the broader culture thinks they are in some way illegitimate. They don’t need to hide as priests now, and haven’t for decades. I think older homosexual priests died and weren’t replaced with other homosexual men, and that this is reflected in the peak of instances of abuse in the late 70s.early 80s and then the steep decline per the John Jay report, long before the media broke the story nationwide in the early 2000s or any sort of Church discipline did anything about it.

Now the only group that are invariably for doing away with the discipline are liberals. In fact, they absolutely hate it.

Why do you think the groups that are the most liberal, that have already accepted abortion and ‘gay marriage’ haven’t come out for the Catholic Church to keep the discipline? They all invariably want it to end, not continue.

Freegards