Pope Francis showed himself willing to “review” celibacy within the Catholic Churchsince it is a “temporary prescription” of the western churchhe stated in an interview published this Friday.
“There is no contradiction for a priest to get married. Celibacy in the western church is a temporary prescription: I don’t know if it is resolved one way or another, but it is provisional in this sense,” Francis said from his residence in Santa Marta, in Vatican City, in statements to the Argentine portal Infobae on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his papacy. .
Asked if this question of celibacy “could be reviewed”, the Supreme Pontiff replied “yes, yes”.to add that all the members of the Eastern church, or those who want to, “are married.”
“In the Catholic Church there are married priests: the entire Eastern rite is married. Everything. Here in the Curia we have one – today I came across him – who has his wife, his son,” said the highest authority of Catholicism.
Likewise, the Pope recognized that “sometimes celibacy can lead you to machismo” and stressed the need to appoint more women to positions of responsibility in the Vatican.
“The Council of the Economy is made up of six cardinals and six laymen. The laymen are all men, of course. It had to be renewed and I put a man and five women (…). Instead of putting a lieutenant governor, I put a lieutenant governor, and he ( the governor, Fernando Berges) feels much more helped because women resolve and resolve well“, the Supreme Pontiff pointed out.
“They have another methodology, women. They have a sense of time, of waiting, of patience, different from man. This does not diminish the man, they are different. And they have to complement each other,” he added.
These statements occur in a context of growing debate within the Churchespecially after the irruption, three years ago, of the synodal process in Germanya dialogue forum that seeks Formulas to overcome the crisis that the Catholic Church is experiencingshaken by scandals of sexual abuse of minors.
In recent months, proposals such as the end of compulsory celibacy or also that women have access to the priesthood or questions about homosexuality have been advanced, which is causing bad tempers in the Vatican and fears of a schism in the German Church.
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The Vatican considered in the past that “it would not be licit to initiate in the dioceses, before an agreed agreement at the level of the universal Church, new official structures or doctrines, which would represent a wound to ecclesial communion and a threat to the unity of the Church.” Church”.
Pope Francis, 86, will celebrate a decade at the helm of the Catholic Church next Monday, a period in which has focused its efforts on reforming the Holy See to make it more transparent and effectivenot without the opposition of the most conservative sectors of the Vatican.