Pope Francis will not approve the ordination of married men to address the priest shortage in the Amazon, his left progressive views aren’t so extreme now, are they? He has also denied the right for women to become catholic ministers in the church.
While Francis’s supporters see him as a liberal, this is another sign that while he’s made reformist sounds/moves on some social issue, on doctrinal matters/church teaching/traditions he is more conservative than many had thought. A 2000-year-old Church moves slowly.
For his progressive supporters, they’ll see Francis evading a contentious issue that has dominated debate in the Catholic Church especially because of the amounts of pedophile issues with priests that have deterred people from becoming priests because of the stigma.
There’s a shortage of priests in the Amazon according to the Catholic bishops in the region and that is a big issue because there’s nobody to spread the word of the lord and this is a big hit since they’ve been denied.
Bishops backed the measure last year, but the decision needed the Pope’s approval to be implemented. Catholic priests are required to abide by the rule of celibacy upon ordination except in cases where married Anglican ministers have converted.
BBC News
The Pope’s move will be welcomed by conservative wing of Church which was fearful this would set a precedent for married priests elsewhere. But some reformists will see it as lost opportunity to loosen what is a 1,000 year tradition rather than doctrine and help those who go months without seeing priest.
I’m Catholic, and very aware of many of the problems that our church currently faces and can not help but think that allowing priests to be married could dramatically help our church. Clearly, the most immediate benefit would be the increase of people willing to become priests. Francis has got to go!