Pope Reportedly Promises "Solutions" to Priestly Celibacy

Channel News Asia ^ | 7/13/14 | AFP

[marshmallow]

Pope Francis promised "solutions" to the issue of priestly celibacy in an interview on Sunday that raised the possibility the Catholic Church could eventually lift a ban on married priests, but was quickly refuted by the Vatican

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis promised "solutions" to the issue of priestly celibacy in an interview on Sunday that raised the possibility the Catholic Church could eventually lift a ban on married priests, but was quickly refuted by the Vatican.

Interviewed by Italy's La Repubblica daily, Francis also condemned child sex abuse as a "leprosy" in the Church and cited his aides as saying that "the level of paedophilia in the Church is at two per cent".

"That two per cent includes priests and even bishops and cardinals," the pope was quoted as saying.

Asked whether priests might one day be allowed to marry, Francis pointed out that celibacy was instituted "900 years after Our Lord's death" and that clerics can marry in some Eastern Churches under Vatican tutelage.

[Iscool]

A married priest cannot become a bishop.

But a queer priest or a pedo-priest can...

[redgolum]

Local council, and not binding. There were married priests for much longer than that. The concern was that many places the priesthood risked becoming hereditary, and the income and land becoming like a local baron’s. The celibacy rule was to try to keep the control of church land under bishops

[PJBankard]

Ping!

[GladesGuru]

“Of course Frank ain’t no commie. He’s a strong Christian Socialist. As far as he’s concerned, Karl Marx’s only problem is that he just wasn’t a good Catholic.”

One more like the above and I shall be forced to buy a coffee proof keyboard.

;-)

Marx wasn’t a good Catholic - - - snickers hysterically.

Popie seems to have difficulty understanding the difference between voluntary charity (tithe, whatever) and government taking from one to give to another - a from of theft.

Charity is part of Judeo-Christianity. Theft is forbidden.

Used to be, anyway.

[marshmallow]

I realize that the council of Elvira was a local council. However, the quote in the article says that "celibacy was instituted 900 years after Our Lord's death", as if this was some sort of arbitrary diktat that was handed down out of the blue in opposition to popular custom.

This is definitely not the case and my point was that priestly celibacy dates from apostolic times, the Council of Elvira, in the 3rd century, being one very early example of mandatory imposition of celibacy, albeit local.

It is entirely incorrect to say that "celibacy was instituted 900 years after the death of Our Lord".

[piusv]

yes, thanks for adding those.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Not canonically. Not if he's known as a pedo or a homosexual.

It's like saying "Embezzlers shouldn't become ministers." Right. If a guy puts "embezzler" on his application to the Board of Deacons/Board of Directors of the Morningstar Baptist Church, they should show him the door!

Has the usual, godly rule "don't hire sodomites and pedos" been ignored by bad bishops, bad seminary rectors? Yes. That's wicked and maddening, but not surprising. Sodomites, like embezzlers, protect their own.

All the problems in the Catholic Church are caused by sinners sinning. Probably true of your church, too.

[redgolum]

But it is also incorrect to say celibacy was the norm that early. There are plusses and minuses to both sides. In many Mediterranean cultures, it was viewed as ideal. In places with less popular focus on later Greek philosophy such as Ireland, not so much.

On a practical level, there was a real risk in creating a form of priest nobles

[ebb tide]

Who even knows then?

The Pope, himself, said if white is black, it’s black.

[Biggirl]

Also in the Eastern rites of the Catholic Church, plus the other Orthodox churches, a man MUST marry first before being ordained as a priest. When a bishop is appointed, they have to go to the mononstic communities in order to get a bishop if my memory serves me correct.

Plus I do believe the apostle Paul said to Timothy, in one of his letters in the Bible that a bishop should be married only once.

[Biggirl]

......Or PLEASE!

[Biggirl]

The perminant RC deacons can be, BUT, there is one rule and that, should the wife pre-decesed the deacon, he MUST then become a priest.

[Biggirl]

Found this after doing some research about the council of Elvira. Never knew there was even one.
\
http://www.earlychurchtexts.com/index.htm

[marshmallow]

The quote contained in the article implies that there was a gap of 900 years from the time of Our Lord's death until the institution of celibacy. Ergo, this was some form of rupture or departure from the practice of the early Church, requiring (to quote the headline), a "solution".

This is where my problem lies since this is a gross distortion and denies the theology and practice of the early Church, starting with St. Paul, who desired that all men might be as himself (1 Corinthians 7:7-8).

We can debate its extent in the early Church but celibacy has its genesis in apostolic times and even before since "..... there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven". (Matthew 19:12).

The "900 years" shtick is fiction.

[IrishBrigade]

All the problems in the Catholic Church are caused by sinners sinning. Probably true of your church, too.

...well, you know, some on this religion forum are of the opinion that that their churches are free from sin...

...to tell them otherwise impinges on their myopia...think of their feelings before you hurt them...

[Mrs. Don-o]

Correction: if a married permanent deacon's wife dies before he does, he must not remarry, but must remain celibate. He is not required to go on and be ordained a priest.

I understand there is one exceptin to this, and that is if the widowed deacon is left with children in the household to care for, then --- with his bishop's permission --- he may seek to remarry for the children's sake.

This must be very rare; in all my years I have actually not seen this case. But I'm told it's in Canon Law.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Francis also condemned child sex abuse as a "leprosy" in the Church and cited his aides as saying that "the level of paedophilia in the Church is at two per cent".

Sexual abuse rate according to the John Jay Report:

Priests 1-2%
Ministers 2-3%
Government school teachers 5-10%

Maybe school teachers should be allowed to marry.

[metmom]

If you listen to the wives of vicars and ministers, THEY say that celibacy really is better. A man who tries to be FOR ALL the best husband, father and vicar/minister finds that there simply isn't enough time in the day or enough of him to go around for everyone who needs him.

If there were more men in the ministry, then they wouldn't be overworked and not have enough time for their families and it wouldn't be an issue.

[Biggirl]

Thank-you for that teaching correction. Never knew that a widowed permanent deacon does not have to become a priest.

I have a friend who is studying and decerning in my parish becoming one.

[redgolum]

Again I agree. I think we are talking past each other. There were strong local movements to enforce priestly celibacy dating back quite far, but it wasn’t mandated for the Roman rite till later.

There are married Catholic priests in other rites as you well know. It is a discipline, not a doctrine.