‘The door is always open’: Celibacy for priests not unchangeable dogma, Pope Francis says

National Post ^ | 06/11/2014

[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.

[Rodamala]

Ah, yes... winter rules.

[Elsie]

Would parishioners then call the priest's wife ‘Mother’?

[Elsie]

Speaking as a boy; I sure do NOT want to be altered!

[Elsie]

legitimate ?

[Elsie]

I,for example,have no problem understanding why Christ would want me to abstain from eating meat on Fridays.

MOre troubling is...

MOM; why did you never have any more children?

[Elsie]

details...

...the debble is in ‘em.

[Elsie]

Peter was Catholic after Pentecost.

So were them 7 churches mentioned in Revelation.

VERY good roles models; too!

[Elsie]

Read the ACTS of the apostles.

Especially chapter 15

[Elsie]

...He refers to himself ...

Then that settles it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=755f0iUuJY0&feature=kp

[Elsie]

5 Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?

AARRGH!!!

Half-brothers or Cousins!!!

[Elsie]

If the wife divorces him, the priest has no personal assets to pay alimony or child support with.

HMMMmmm... good point.

ANother question arises: Do priests buy Life Insurance?

[Elsie]

Anyone who did approach me like that would lose teeth.

Tsk tsk... That's NO way to; ahem; turn the other cheek...

[Elsie]

Pope: Celibacy is not a dogma ... since it is not a dogma, the door is always open

I...
must...
resist!

[chesley]

You seem to have missed the point of the post, which was not about the Lord’s brothers (which they arem sons of the non-virgin Mary and Josepph) but about Peter

[Elsie]

I’m VERY good at picking out OTHER tidbits of ‘truth’ tossed into the mix.

[Elsie]

Half-brothers or Cousins!!!

The NEXT time Rome decides to re-translate the Original Writings; it'll CORRECT this long standing confusion!

--CAtholic_Wannabe_Dude(Hail Mary!)

[chesley]

I’m pretty good at it, too :)

I guess, though, that I don’t see the point in this particular instance.

Help me out??

[defconw]

Why do non-Catholics care whether or not our priests are married? Survey after survey comes out that the priests are not in favor of marriage. Solved. The young ones coming up seem to be more conservative if anything. I like it!

Why can't they all just mind their own business?

[defconw]

Please tell me you know that meat was abstained from, not because it was meat? Same thing goes for celibacy! It's a discipline, entered into willingly.

Sex, sex, sex! Is that really all anyone cares about? I have known people who are not priests, who have lead celibate lives for various reasons. I can not get over the fact that every time this media made issue comes up, the same flock of chirping birds show up here.

[defconw]

It's not doctrine, it's tradition in the western rite, and I know you know that. You know most Catholics don't really care if they are married or not, why should you?

Have you ever talked to a real honest to God, burning with his vocation priest? I would gather the answer is no. Ask one, one time, what they want!