Will priests be allowed to marry in the future? Pope Francis is by no means against a revision of the 1,000-year-old celibacy rules within the church.
But, although he is the leader of the Catholic Church, he still has to convince his bishops. And that is not possible for the time being.
It is well known that there is an acute shortage of priests. And not only with us. The 86-year-old Pope Francis, therefore, broke a lance to abolish celibacy to attract more candidates.
“He suggested that mature, mature married men might be allowed to be ordained as priests. But he has yet to find a majority for his proposal. In other words, most bishops do not support his idea to abolish celibacy. So it has been put in the fridge for the time being,” says Tom Zwaenepoel, Vatican expert and author of, among other things, Against the Current.
Pope Francis, 86, recently told Argentine news site Infobae that the church’s celibacy rule, which dates back to the 11th century, was only a “temporary prescription” and that there was also “no contradiction” for a priest to marry.
The reason for his statements was a decision by the German Catholic Church that has agreed to reforms such as same-sex marriage in light of the growing criticism of child abuse scandals.
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