October 25, 2017 headlines
Canon212.com
The day's headlines on this subject are all misleading - because the story refers to this pope's apparent readiness to try recruiting 'viri probati'
(older married men who already have stable families that presumably they can leave in order to carry out the priestly ministry) in Brazil's vast
and sparsely populated Amazonia region in order to provide ministry to its numerous but widely scattered population 'centers'. A report we have
heard about for at least two years now, but today's headlines make it appear that the pope is ready to do away with mandatory priestly celibacy.
mHe may be, for all we know, but for now, the 'viri probati' experiment is his trial balloon. 1Peter5's headline is at least circumspect.
Pope reported to be considering ordination of married men
by Maike Hickson
October 25, 2017
According to the Austrian Catholic website Kath.net, Pope Francis is considering allowing the ordination of so-called
viri probati. These “tested men” are considered to have “proved their worth” by living virtuously in their marriages and in parish life, and allowing them to be ordained as deacons [and eventually priests] would relax the Church's requirement of celibacy in the priesthood.
[Apparently, these viri probati would assist regular priests in their duties, including the offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In which case, they would have to be priests themselves, because deacons cannot celebrate Mass.]
Based on a report in the German newspaper
Die Zeit, kath.net says that the promoter of the idea of married priests, Bishop Erwin Kräutler — an Austrian-born prelate who has spent much of his ecclesiastical career in Brazil — is said to have helped to write up a paper which is now lying on the desk of Pope Francis fo rhis signature. With this likely decision, the pope hopes to help alleviate the priest shortage in the Amazon region in Brazil.
The measure is meant to help alleviate the priest shortage in the Amazonia. The move must be seen in the context of the pope's recent decision to convoke a 2019 special synodal assembly to discuss the Amazon region and its unique challenges for the Church.
At the beginning of 2017, Pope Francis gave an interview to Die Zeit in which he spoke about the idea of ordaining viri probati. As we reported at the time:
When discussing the matter of married priests, Pope Francis answers: “But voluntary celibacy is not the answer.” He did show, however, more openness toward the idea of giving clerical faculties to the “viri probati,” older married men who have lived abidingly a tested and proven virtuous life and, if they so desire, would be eligible to train for the permanent diaconate [if not the priesthood].
Francis said: “We have to reflect about whether the viri probati are a possibility. Then we also have to determine which tasks they could have, for example in far distant parishes. […] In the Church, it is always important to recognize the right moment, to recognize when the Holy Ghost demands something. That is why I say that we will continue to reflect about the viri probati."
[Even if the pope signs a decree admitting viri probati into the clergy now, today, candidates have to be recruited - unless Krautler has been doing his homework and already has a roster of candidates - and those selected would then have to be formed appropriately.
Do the chosen ones undergo the first three years of seminary and then become ordained as deacons, just as priests training for the priesthood do one year before they are ordained priests? This means it will be at least four years before we see the first 'viri provati' deacons (seven years if the viri provati decree does not come until after the 2019 synodal assembly on the Church's problems in the Amazonia). It can't happen overnight...
Or maybe the Bergoglian viri probati will not be made to have formal traning other than a basic orientation course in Bergoglianism, after which they will be sent off to apprentice with priests already serving the jungle populations, so that way, they learn their assisantship duties on the job. Which means such viri probati will never become priests. Unless Bergoglio decrees a 'dispensation' allowing apprentice deacons, after a specified period of time, to celebrate Mass. Anythig is possible with JMB!
A second consideration is does Mons. Krautler think he will recruit enough qualified and willing men to make up, at least minimally, for the priest shortage in the Amazonia? While married men are already allowed to train for the permanent diaconate (as they do not intend to be priests) since this ministry was re-established by the Second Vatican Council, the number of permanent deacons worldwide in 2015 (last year for which the Church has statistics) was 42,455 worldwide, 98 percent of them in Europe and the Americas (the USA alone accounted for 15,200). Compared to 400,000-plus priests, that number is insignificant. So you see the practical problems of the viri probati idea.]
Bishop Kräutler had earlier publicly spoken about the fact that Pope Francis had encouraged him privately about the furthering of the idea of married priests. As I reported in 2016:
He [Bishop Kräutler] claims that these words [“have courage!”] are “among the favorite words” of Pope Francis.
Francis, says Kräutler, encourages especially the bishops to be courageous: “I will never forget how he [Pope Francis] told me during a private audience on 4 April 2014 that he expects from the bishops ‘courageous proposals’ ….” When asked what proposals he himself is thinking of with regard to the shortage of priests in some regions, the bishop answers that one needs to rethink the admission requirements for the priesthood.
He continues: “But the Eucharistic celebration should not be dependent upon the fact whether or not a priest is present who is celibate. Pope Francis certainly does not want to decide this question all alone, but especially in this context he expects ‘courageous’ proposals.”
Last September, the German service of Vatican Radio reported that Bishop Kräutler had raised the issue of married men again, in light of the lack of priests in his region in Brazil, saying again that “whether or not there is a celebration of the Eucharist should not be dependent upon the question whether there is available a priest who is celibate.” The bishops of the region of the Amazonia had already been speaking about the matter last year, but were now seeking support “from Europe,” according to the Radio Vatikan report.
Bishop Kräutler has also reportedly proposed to study further the work of Bishop emeritus Fritz Lobinger of Aliwal, South Africa, who is not only in favor of married priests as such, but is also a promoter of female deacons, and has voiced support for the idea of female priests. Pope Francis himself once recommended the writings of Lobinger to the German bishops during their Ad Limina visit to Rome in 2015.
Leonardo Boff, a liberation theologian from Brazil who has served recently as a consultant to Pope Francis, said last December that Cardinal Hummes, also from Brazil, had suggested that the pope consider the option of allowing married priests to perform pastoral care in his country, where only 18,000 priests serve a population of 140 million Catholics.
Boff said that he was told the pope wanted to try an “experimental period in Brazil” to this end. Marco Tosatti and Sandro Magister, both long-time Vatican watchers, indicated in separate reports last year that they see movement in this direction.
Simultaneously, the issue of relaxing celibacy has been pushed by the largest lay Catholic organization in Germany while Germany is facing an unprecedented vocations crisis. Their support comes at a time when the bishops of Germany are enjoying enormous influence in the Vatican.
Bishop Kräutler, whose study on the married priesthood is said to be under review by the pope, also said that Pope John Paul II’s proscription against women priests in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis “certainly has a lasting effect, but it is not a dogma.”
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[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/10/2017 07:37]