Catholic Bishops Approve Proposal That Allows Married Men To Become Priests

Pope Francis
Pope Francis

A proposal that allows some married men to be ordained as priests in the Amazon region was on Sunday approved by some Catholic Bishops.

However, the proposal must be first approved by Pope Francis – if this happens, it would be a historic change to centuries-old tradition of unmarried priests in the catholic church.

It passed by a vote of 128-41 and applies only to some churches in the Amazon region that are experiencing a shortage of priests – regions such as Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela are excluded.

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The proposal, known as viri probati, refers to older Catholic men, who have stable families, and respected in their communities and are already ordained as deacons in the church.

This proposal doesn’t in any way mean that Catholic priests are now allowed to be married but only allows married men to become priests.

It, therefore, doesn’t change the rule of celibacy for Catholic priests, who are not allowed to marry.

4 COMMENTS

  1. I pray that God will touches the hearts of people that are ready to be priest.
    with God, all things are possible but for this particular issue; I know that if God does not call you a priest, you can’t be ordained as a priest. in other way round to raise a priest, there should train their sons in the religious way by allowed them to start as an altar boys. that is way they will have a zeal for it.
    Bishop, you are our leader. you are guided by the Pop. if it the will of God, we can’t question God. let it be done according to the will of God.

  2. that is already a loophole in the Catholic Church, we have been closely watching poor Francis working hard to overturn the church ‘s traditions and with his henchmen cardinals they seem to be getting to success.
    But i warn you that a Reformation is already underway.
    Jesus promised to reward those who shall leave father, mother, Brother, Sister, wife and children for the sake of His Gospel, a hundred fold.
    The Amazon region would have asked for missionaries from Africa where vocations are still abundant. why don’t they need blacks to evangelize in their countries? This is just sastifying their sexual desires and greedness not solving a pastoral challenge in the Amazon.