Amazon Celibacy
The Pope has spoken. Celibacy will continue in the Amazon.
Pope Francis has stopped short of allowing the ordination of married men as priests in the Amazon, where there are severe shortages of clergy, calling instead for ordained ministers to come to the region and work alongside lay preachers.
His call came after bishops in the Amazon called on the Vatican to allow married men to be ordained as priests in the South American region, where the faithful can go months without a Mass.
His conclusion is a continuation of the nearly 1,000-year-old practice of priestly celibacy. Currently, the Vatican allows married men to become priests in Eastern rite churches. Eager to include converts, it has also allowed married Anglicans to remain priests when they join the Roman Catholic Church.
(https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pope-francis-stops-short-allowing-married-men-become-priests-amazon-n1134581)
I am not Catholic, so I have no theological opinion on this matter. *
However, the policy does seem to be getting awfully dated.
And, as stated in the article above, there are already a couple of allowable exceptions. I was not aware of these.
How much longer will the concept of Priestly Celibacy continue? Next pope? 2 Popes? 3 Popes?
Grace & Peace & Love to you all -
Matt
* for what it's worth, here's what Wikipedia says:
Theologically, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that priesthood is a ministry conformed to the life and work of Jesus Christ. Priests as sacramental ministers act in persona Christi, that is in the mask of Christ. Thus the life of the priest conforms, the Church believes, to the chastity of Christ himself. The sacrifice of married life is for the "sake of the Kingdom" (Luke 18:28–30, Matthew 19:27–30), and to follow the example of Jesus Christ in being "married" to the Church, viewed by Catholicism and many Christian traditions as the "Bride of Christ" (following Ephesians 5:25–33 and Revelation 21:9, together with the spousal imagery at Mark 2:19–20; cf. Matthew 9:14–15).
