Advertisement

Vatican to consider married priests for Amazon region in historic shift

Catholic pilgrims in the Caraparu River in Santa Izabel do Para - REUTERS
Catholic pilgrims in the Caraparu River in Santa Izabel do Para - REUTERS

The Vatican has suggested allowing married men to become priests in the Amazon, in an unprecedented move that could pave the way for similar reforms in other parts of the world.

There is a drastic shortage of Catholic priests in the jungles, swamps and townships of the Amazon Basin, which is home to around 30 million people, millions of them indigenous.

It is a vast area that extends across the boundaries of nine countries, from Peru and Bolivia to Brazil and Surinam.

In a bid to address the problem, the Vatican released a document on Monday in which it said the Catholic Church should consider allowing married men to become priests in remote areas.

The men would ideally be older, respected members of the community and would not have to give up their wives and families if they wanted to be ordained.

The move – which is believed to have the backing of Pope Francis – would compromise the Catholic Church’s insistence that priests must be celibate.

The issue of allowing married men to be ordained will be discussed at a synod in October - Credit: Alessandra Tarantino/AP
The issue of allowing married men to be ordained will be discussed at a synod in October Credit: Alessandra Tarantino/AP

The idea will be put to a synod, or meeting of bishops, specifically dedicated to debating pastoral and environmental issues in the Amazon, due to be held in Rome in October.

"While affirming that celibacy is a gift for the Church, there have been requests that, for the most remote areas of the region, (the Church) studies the possibility of conferring priestly ordination on elderly men, preferably indigenous, respected and accepted members of their communities," the document said.

The Amazon is so vast that some communities of Catholic faithful barely see a priest from month to month, meaning they are deprived of such fundamentals as attending Mass or giving a confession.

Conservatives fear that the move, if adopted for the Amazon, would be the thin edge of the wedge, encouraging other parts of the Catholic world to ask for the same dispensation.

“What is unprecedented is that this is the first time that the Vatican has proposed, in a synod document, that married men should be ordained,” Austen Ivereigh, a Vatican expert, told The Telegraph.

“If there is consensus at the synod, then it would be put to the Pope.”

Two years ago, in an interview with Germany's Die Zeit newspaper, the pontiff said he was open to the idea of so-called "viri probati" - married men of deep faith who are already involved in the Church – being allowed to become priests.

 

Pope Francis at one of his weekly general audiences in St Peter's Square - Credit: Barcroft Images
Pope Francis at one of his weekly general audiences in St Peter's Square Credit: Barcroft Images

It could apply not only to the Amazon but also to some remote Pacific islands, said Francis, the first Pope in history to hail from South America.

“It wouldn’t establish a general rule, but of course there would be implications,” said Mr Ivereigh, the author of The Great Reformer: Francis and the making of a radical Pope. “It might be that bishops in rural parts of Europe, for instance, point to it as a precedent in future.”

Missionaries have described to the Pope the difficulties of ministering to such a diffuse flock in the Amazon.

Erwin Kräutler, an Austrian missionary and bishop, recounted to Francis early on in his pontificate the difficulties he faced.

He works with tribes along the Xingu River of northern Brazil. “There are around 800 communities and only 27 priests,” he said. “The great majority of these communities have access to Eucharistic celebrations just two or three times a year.”

There are two pockets of the Catholic world in which married priests are already permitted – Anglican ministers, who already have wives, who defect to Rome and some priests in the Eastern rite Catholic Churches, which includes Armenians and Maronites.