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On Married Priests, Cardinal Kasper Says Pope Wants Proposals from Bishops’ Conferences

Today, the German Bishops’ official website, Katholisch.de, published an interview with Cardinal Walter Kasper on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of his own priestly ordination. In this context, the German cardinal also made some significant statements regarding the question of the viri probati — that is to say, on the ordination of married and morally proven men.

When the interviewer asked Kasper about the viri probati question, he responded, saying that there is an “urgent need for action.” There has been many a long-term discussion about this matter, but in the past, explains the cardinal, this topic “was not approved officially by Rome.” But now, adds Kasper, Pope Francis has said in a recent Die Zeit interview that “one should think about it,” even though the pope did not say “it will come.”

Kasper then shows his own sympathy for the idea of the viri probati when he says that “I consider such a discussion to be of the utmost necessity.” “We cannot go on as usual;” he adds, “this discussion is very urgent.” As an explanation, Kasper says that, when he was ordained, there were forty candidates ordained in his own diocese alone. “Now, there are 40 priestly candidates in the whole country.” Thus he brings up again the problem of the grave shortage of priests in Germany.

Cardinal Kasper insists upon the urgency by saying that the viri probati need to receive a formation; that is to say, it will take some preparation time before they can start working as priests. He adds that “the pope thinks that this discussion is worth it; he sees it positively.” One had to see what this concept of the viri probati means, explains the cardinal. Importantly, Kasper now says that the pope wishes that the national bishops’ conferences approach him with their individual proposals which he then can approve.  Kasper goes on to say: “He [the pope] wants to leave the decision up to the bishops’ conferences.” They can “come to him and make a request.” “If this request is a reasonable request, I have the impression that he is willing to respond then positively to it,” adds Kasper. “It is now up to the bishops’ conferences.”

Such a process, as described by Kasper, could well have been designed to offer cover for the pope, creating the appearance that he is not soliciting such requests, but rather only receiving and considering them.

Cardinal Kasper has come to be known for his close relationship with Pope Francis. In the years that led up to the post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia, the German cardinal had accented that Pope Francis himself supported his “Kasper proposal” which wanted to give access to Holy Communion for the “remarried” divorcees. His assessment, though widely dismissed at the time as his own wishful thinking, has since been proven true.

Now, Cardinal Kasper openly says that the pope wishes that the local bishops’ conferences make their more specific proposals to introduce the viri probati — that is to say, the issue of married priests — which the pope might then subsequently (and very likely) approve. (He did not at all speak, however, of the mulieres probatae. Not yet.)

The plan for further reform is thus laid out. It is only a question of time until the first national bishops’ conference will come up with the first proposals. Will it be the Germans again?

When the interviewer asked Kasper as to whether he will encourage Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the President of the German Bishops’ Conference, to make such a proposal, he responded: “He does not need it [such an encouragement]. Cardinal Marx wishes to push things ahead. But he cannot directly intervene into each local Church [diocese]. That has to be decided locally; one has to differentiate here.” [my emphasis]

This statement by Cardinal Kasper seems to stand in direct opposition to Cardinal Marx’s own recent March 2017 statement, according to which Marx is very hesitant to open up to the viri probati question, which was, he believed, more urgent elsewhere — namely, for other “extreme cases” in other places in the world with severe shortages of priests. Even so, Marx more or less contradicted himself a few days later, when he frankly admitted that in 2016 the seminary of his own Diocese of Munich-Freising had received only one new seminarian — certainly as serious a situation as the “extreme cases” he referred to in other countries.

The future will soon show us which Bishops’ Conference will take the first practical steps toward ordaining married priests — and whether they will be doing it with papal encouragement and approval.

This post has been updated.

56 thoughts on “On Married Priests, Cardinal Kasper Says Pope Wants Proposals from Bishops’ Conferences”

    • Why not give orthodoxy a try?

      A good idea that’s not incompatible with a married priesthood, and in its purest form demands a married episcopacy.

      Returning to the latter is a necessary step for breaking the Gay Mafia’s influence, which is why we’ll never see it seriously considered by the bishops.

      Reply
        • Christ’s example picking a married St. Peter as the first pope, and St. Paul’s divinely inspired guidance that bishops should be married men with proven patriarchal character (1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1) leave little ambiguity as to the gold standard. There may be some wiggle room for the priesthood to allow some unmarried men though.

          Reply
          • Jesus answering, said: Amen I say to you, there is no man who hath left house or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, Who shall not receive an hundred times as much, now in this time; houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions: and in the world to come life everlasting. (Mk 10:29-30)

          • Peter and many of the Apostles were already married when they were “recruited”. We are told that once they had been commissioned by Christ, they led celibate lives. If this is so, then it negates the whole purpose of marriage.

          • We are told that once they had been commissioned by Christ, they led celibate lives.

            Do you mean continent instead? 1 Corinthians 9 rules out the former. Why the passive voice though? What contemporaneous source actually says this, and why would it be true?

            If this is so, then it negates the whole purpose of marriage.

            There’s more to marriage than sex.

          • Indeed. That is what we are told; hence Jesus’ pronouncement about the reward. No. It’s called ‘Sacrifice’.

      • How do you figure that out? And please don’t cite St. Peter and the Apostles. This would just be falling back on the fallacious “that’s the way it was in the early Church” nonsense.

        Reply
        • falling back on the fallacious “that’s the way it was in the early Church” nonsense.

          No nonsense involved – understanding Christ and the Apostles is foundational. That doesn’t mean subsequent innovations are necessarily bad ones, but the reasons should be well understood, and unwinding innovation is always possible.

          Reply
        • Stewart, The example of St. Peter is a good one. As is the history of the original Presbyters (Elders) of the Church who were the first priests. They were older married men who were tested good Christians. However, what is not discussed is that St. Peter and probably the Presbyters were pledged to Perpetual Continence. The dogmatic question is whether this is a good thing or a required thing. That has yet to be truly answered.

          Reply
    • Because we belong to The Roman Catholic Church, and not to the Orthodox church. As someone said above, there is NO shortage of calls from God to the priesthood. This call is drowned out by sex, drugs, and rock and roll – to say nothing about the horrible example of parents, friends and neighbours, PRIESTS, and BISHOPS. The call still comes… but, crickets…

      Reply
  1. “Cardinal Marx wishes to push things ahead. But he
    cannot directly intervene into each local Church [diocese]. That has to
    be decided locally; one has to differentiate here.” [my emphasis]”
    Ah yes – each Bishop is in charge of his own Diocese. Thank God for that! Good Bishops will need to open their own Seminaries to preserve the celibate Priesthood, and hopefully faithful young men will move to those Dioceses to grow the Church.

    Reply
    • I’m afraid the results have been pre-determined….Actually they are talking about
      the conferences deciding and leaving the authority of the bishops in limbo.

      Reply
  2. There has never been a shortage of vocations to the priesthood. It’s just simply a case that the VII church drove all the genuine ones away.

    The VII ideal of what a priest is supposed to be simply does not exist in God’s plan for the redemption of mankind.

    Reply
  3. Symptomatic of the delusional notions induced by pop culture and adopted by shallow thinking ecclesiastics is the idea that the possibility of married priests will attract authentic vocations.
    Christ alone makes the call to the heart of a man.
    Beyond that concrete reality which appears to have quite the back seat these days, one need only observe the dearth of men in protestant denominations seeking to serve in their ministry. They really just aren’t there. The Episcopal Church in the United States has a bit of a problem
    in that they have more ministers than they require, not because of a flood of male vocations, but the collapse of their congregations and the flourishing crop of lesbians adopting the ministry – though now without a “worship space” in which to deposit them. The situation is not much different in other mainline denominations.
    How this is lost on intellects of such gargantuan proportions such as Pope Bergoglio, and Cardinal Kasper is not readily apparent to me. Could it be that there is another agenda afoot besides numbers? That is a beleaguered self-identified post-Kouncil, post-Khristian, Katholic Kirche can’t survived without a priestess?
    The Catholic Church does not have a vocation crisis, let alone a coital crisis. It has a faith crisis which is eminently manifest in Rome where secular materialism has replaced Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholicism recreated in the image and likeness of Jorge Bergoglio and Walter Kasper.
    It is nothing less than revenge.
    This attitude, disposition, a modus operandi has always been present in a certain element in the Church – now for more than fifty-years virulently. While somewhat startling to see it employed so forthrightly in by the current pontificate – it was not surprising because the Bergoglian cartel is fueled on resentment. The background hiss of the past fifty-five years does appear to be at peak pitch for four years.

    Reply
    • These “rumblings” are just as “startling” as the rumblings about “formerly” sacrilegious reception of Holy Communion before the Synods on the Family in 2014 and 2015. Do we doubt that this talk of a married priesthood are more sinister “warning shots” than mere “trial balloons”?

      It’s no secret that orthodoxy and orthopraxis attracts young men to the celibate priesthood. The Diocese of Charlotte in NC has been producing an impressive stream of such vocations over the past 10-15 years, coincident with the growth of Perpetual Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament. There is a new seminary growing at Belmont Abbey College in Gastonia, NC, and a residence at St. Ann’s Church in Charlotte for young men who are thinking of a vocation to the priesthood.

      As I recall, when Archbishop Chaput encouraged the reestablishment (in his former diocese of Denver in CO) of Perpetual Adoration, there was a resurgence of interest in vocations to the priesthood there, too. I think this has been true elsewhere in the United States.

      Pray for laborers in the Vineyards of the Lord!

      Reply
    • You got that right! They are laying the groundwork to prepare souls for their next pretense at ‘collegiality’. A brood of vipers. Look at Lincoln Nebraska. Bishop Bruskowitz had tons of seminarians because they maintained orthodoxy. Why don’t Kasper and Marx take a trip there ? As they say today….”It doesn’t fit their narrative.”

      Reply
  4. This Pope want to drive the church rite into the ditch,the only way you get new priests is to be Orthodox,you can see bye study’s the libtards don’t get new seminarians an the more orthodox get plenty,this Pope does not like orthodox people he calls us rigid an he hates doctrine,this Pope is horrible,we need a great Pope to clean up what Francis has got the church into,please God send us a Great Holy Pope.

    Reply
  5. From the Congregation for the Clergy: CRITERIA FOR THE CHOICE OF A BISHOP

    The choice of a Bishop is a terribly important one and we do want to get it right, so all of you Nuncios out there jolly well read this and take notice because choosing the right man to head a diocese is … er … very important.

    1. Preferably a Catholic but viri protestanti will be acceptable as long as they can bring a lot of money with them and are already active in their local LGBT scene.

    2. Knowledge of several languages such as German and Dutch, so that the candidate can read Kung, Kasper and Schillebeekx in the original. No need for any Latin, Greek or ancient Hebrew.

    3. Advanced academic degree in global warming, global cooling, lesbian basket-weaving or Third World Studies an advantage.

    4. Clear signs in the candidate’s life of the centrality of activism: pro-choice, the legalisation of paedophilia and cannabis use all score heavily.

    5. Evidence of strong support for women’s issues such as turning a sacristy into a creche or use of altar girls.

    6. Errmm that’s it.

    Signed: Jorges Mario Bergoglio, Idiotus Magnus

    Reply
  6. This “viri probati” suggestion is the thin end of the proverbial wedge. We can be certain that, if implemented, it will not be sufficient in and of itself to adequately address the critical shortage of priests. (And they know it!). Hence, they will need to “consider” looking at further options, and it doesn’t require a crystal ball to know what that will be. The day I see a ‘priest’, or even a ‘deacon’ with two ‘X’ chromosomes will be the day I walk out the door!

    Reply
  7. Francis’ time grows short. That is both the good news and the bad news. I have heard that Satan is facing the same dilemma. Coincidence?

    Reply
    • I sure hope the time grows short. As I was reading this article, for the first time I truly understood what a ‘sinking feeling in the stomach’ was. Absolutely unbelievable.

      Reply
      • Hi Terra – Yes, we live in very disturbing times. We are experiencing the Francis Effect. it is similar to looking over the railing at the top of the Empire State Building, and suddenly feeling the railing pull loose.

        Reply
  8. Just look at the photo above of those two guffawing heretics.

    Kasper: “Looks like we’re getting away with it!”
    Bergoglio: “The plans have been laid very well after all”.

    Look folks: the Church is the victim of a coup d’etat. Do you not see it? These men have been plotting for a very long time. I am a medieval historian by education and I have been trying to think today of a case in Church history where a group of Cardinals have plotted the election of one of their own for purely ideological reasons in order to totally remake the Church in their own image. I cannot think of a single occasion. Yes, of course there were plenty of political alignments and skulduggery – for the French Crown, for the Holy Roman Emperor. But never once for doctrinal reasons.

    A coup d’etat. I am certain that I’m right.

    Reply
    • 1. Modernists always seem to wear ugly big grins across their heretical faces don’t they?

      2. So take refuge in an SSPX chapel if you can, and thereby hold fast to all tradition – including receiving the Sacraments from men ordained in the traditional rites of Holy Orders. The new rites of orders invented by Paul VI in 1968 are objectively doubtful, which is why I avoid them completely.

      Reply
  9. I hate to be overly practical but even if the Church put tradition aside, most parishes couldn’t afford to support a priest and his family.

    Reply
    • It certainly could not fund divorces, and these would do irreparable harm which the media would be certain to proclaim!

      Reply
    • Well, with a little bending of old inflexible rules, they could be lucky and only have two kids like almost everyone else in the parish.

      Reply
  10. We have a former Episcopalian Priest,that converted to Roman Catholicism, that is married, and I must say, I prefer him to many of the other Priest in our Diocese. He is not as liberal as some, and has a sincere compassion for the parishioners, and visitors alike. We share and talk about the writings of the Church Fathers,Church History, etc. Basically in just the few months we have been attending his parish, we have grew in the faith. So for me, if we can Priest that are the same caliber as the one we have, whether married or not, it would be a huge win for the Catholic Church as a whole.

    Reply
    • Obviously his seriousness of purpose is great. There is an element in the Episcopal / Anglican current that put us to shame. Note well Fr. John Hunwicke’s website. It leaves you speechless on a daily basis. How fortunate that Grace has brought these men into our Church — but how many of our “born and bred” priests can equal them?
      Only those who take seriously the moment to moment call to authentic conversion.

      Reply
      • Archdiocesan roles in the Catholic Church here are populated by more protestant converts than cradle Catholics! That says something about catechesis over the past decades and today!

        Reply
    • The important element in your story is the fact the Episcopalian is a convert. That speaks volumes especially as he was a priest who converted; this would be at great cost, although all converts lose friends over their decision. Being married does not make someone more open or sociable or religious, but it does introduce another person – the wife – into their understanding of priesthood. In some denominations, the role of “the minister’s wife” is as preplanned and understood as the future Minister’s role is, right from the beginning. In the Catholic Church, there is no role as such for the wife of a Catholic Priest, so that puts married Catholic priests and their wives (please God it wont officially happen – ever!) in a dicey situation. In a sense, more would be asked of the wife of a Catholic priest than the wife of a protestant minister.

      Reply
  11. Well, guess what…the episcopal conferences of the world will favor married priests..
    not to mention the youths from PF’s youth conference…not to mention the bishops
    of Malta etc, etc. etc. …destruction of all sacred traditions based on the supernatural,
    the divine, the words of Our Lord, has been in the works for a long long time.

    Reply
  12. It is important not to confuse the conclusions of a local conference with the God
    given authority of a local Bishop of a diocese.

    Reply
  13. Kasper was ordained a Priest in 1957 in the old rite but consecrated a Bishop in 1989 in Paul VI’s new rite. So he certainly is a valid Priest. You learn something every day.

    Reply

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