The German branch of Vatican Radio just reported that Pope Francis has made an unusual visit today. According to today’s Radio Vatikan article, Pope Francis went privately this Friday afternoon to Ponte di Nona on the outskirts of Rome in order to meet with seven families together in a private apartment. All fathers of these families are former priests “who hung up their priesthood and married,” in the strange words of the official radio of the Vatican. The article continues, as follows:
With this visit, the pope wanted to show his closeness and affection for these young men whose decision to give up their priesthood has often been adversely received by their confreres and by their own families. Four of the young family fathers stem from the Diocese of Rome, one from Madrid and one from Latin America (both of them are now living in Rome) and the last of them comes from Sicily.
The official Vatican statement, according to Radio Vatikan, explains with much empathy the awkward situation of these men when it indulgently says:
“After a few years of priestly service in the parishes,” according to the Vatican statement, “it happened that the isolation, the lack of understanding, as well as the exhaustion because of the immense work and the pastoral responsibility, brought into crisis the original decision to become a priest. There followed months and years of insecurity and of doubt which often led to the conviction that the priesthood had been the wrong decision.”
This surprising new initiative now coming from the pope will again confirm the suspicions of some Catholics that Pope Francis indeed intends to slacken the priestly celibacy as a requirement for the priesthood in the Latin rite. However, some have recently argued that this topic is not any more on the table inasmuch as the next Synod of Bishops will be about the Youth. Edward Pentin, the well-informed Vatican expert, had recently reported the following:
News of the decision comes after speculation that the next synod would be about priestly celibacy and a possible push to allow married priests, something Pope Francis is known to be keen to examine. That proposal was understood to have been voted down by the majority of members on the XIV Ordinary Council of the Synod of Bishops, the body charged with drawing up the theme of the next synod.
We at OnePeterFive remain respectfully suspicious of Pope Francis’ actual (though veiled) intentions, since we already saw – with regard to the question of the “remarried” divorcees and their possible access to the Sacraments – that the current pontiff tends to ignore or bypass and offset the orthodox decisions made by other influential prelates in the Catholic Church.
Is this recent surprise visit a sign of the pope’s future plans with regard to priestly celibacy?
Dr. Maike Hickson, born and raised in Germany, studied History and French Literature at the University of Hannover and lived for several years in Switzerland where she wrote her doctoral dissertation. She is married to Dr. Robert Hickson, and they have been blessed with two beautiful children. She is a happy housewife who likes to write articles when time permits.
Her articles have appeared in American and European journals such as Catholicism.org, LifeSiteNews, The Wanderer, Culture Wars, Catholic Family News, Christian Order, Apropos, and Zeit-Fragen.
Could it be that the priests were tired of being targeted by the Lavender Mafia in the Church, and tired of people assuming they were homosexual themselves? Definitely the isolation and lack of fatherly leadership in their bishops and chancery could have had something to do with it. Look at THAT, Pope Francis!
Monica, You are soooo right. The problem is that Francis has inherited a clergy that in some countries – more than others – is composed of a high percentage of homosexuals. The cardinals and bishops who have a homosexual orientation are opposed to priests being married for quite a number of reasons. Research undertaken by Richard Sipe is particularly revealing.
I think you might be right about that. Homosexuals controlling the RC. Church.
Here is my answer to the last question. You can absolutely count on it.
The synod is to be about “Youth”. So, scan down to the sub-heading of “Youth and Vocations” and lo and behold, it’s going to become a good idea for young married men to be allowed to “discern” entering into the priesthood. And if they hear that “call”, then they should be helped to follow it.
That’s it, in a nutshell. And of course Francis will prepare the way. Stay tuned. This is his m.o. We know this all too well.
When I mentioned to my wife that the next topic of the Synod of Bishops is to be the Youth she said “That’s where Hitler started.”
Proverbs 31.
I, for one, absolutely agree with everything in this comment. Francis will again manipulate this synod so that it discusses married priests in the Latin rite. And he will also manipulate the discussion itself so that it reaches the conclusion he wants and expects.
The encyclical or exhortation for married priests is already written. And yes the synod will be rigged. Their tactics are always the same but unfortunately nobody either has a good counter attack strategy or the will to fight the modernists.
I sure hope you are right!
“Respectfully suspicious”. LOL. The signal has been sent, it’s only a matter of when.
The end of this pontificate cannot come too soon.
I really do wish people were not so naive. The officially stated purpose of the last two synods were “the family,” and what did we get? The fact that the Vatican has announced the next one will be about Ter Yoots means absolutely nothing. These people don’t tell the truth. They lie systematically. I’m surprised at Ed for not making this point in his report.
agree
Being “respectfully suspicious” is a bit much. At some point the truth must be spoken plainly with no sops to Francis and his minions.
I didn’t think there was any such thing as “former priest”. Doesn’t ordination leave an indelible mark on the soul, like Baptism does? “Thou art a priest forever”. These men just turned their backs on their vows.
Yes, Holy Orders, just like Baptism and Confirmation place a permanent indelible character on one’s soul. These priest remain priests forever. If, when they left the priesthood, they properly petitioned the Holy See, the Holy See (pope) can grant a full dispensation of the vows of both celibacy and obedience (and poverty if the priest was in a religious order) to the bishop. As such, they can then validly and sacramentally marry in the Church. The only thing they cannot do is participate in any way in parish liturgical life. However, they can still dispense the sacraments to anyone in danger of death (baptism, confirmation, and confession).
I think that is totally disgusting to due this to a priest once he becomes laitized
That sickens me that priests are punished when leaving Holy Orders- that they can’t participate in the ministries. Come on. Time to change. I don’the think our Lord Jesus would see it that way. He would be merciful and happy that he found someone to share Love with.
adulterers ?
Yes and if they let them be married and stay as servicing priests they would have two vows to uphold. S o what? Let them take on two vocations. I think they would have better enriching lives.
The propaganda campaign for married priests has just begun.
Hi, does anybody think, Pope Francis takes back a catholic priest now married and willing to return back to priesthood ministry?
I sure hope he does take them back cause this is what our Church needs!
Isolated? So it’s the priesthood’s fault I ser. It is detective. I wonder where was God in all of this. How did celibacy isolated them from God? Why does the Pope do things this way? I already have too much stress.
yes…I’m single and lonely…is that the Church’s fault too?
Will there be a synod to fix this for me?
Papa Francis does manipulate scriptures, he is modern Big Jesus. I am so annoyed with the annulments being made easy and the priests are royally declaring marriages null and void administratively made easy, victimising the victims. Especially in Asian countries where the dollared man comes and marries the women and leaves cheating the women and take annulments and these asian priests are pro dollared guys happy to give annulments victimising the poor ladies especially in India. Looking at the way Papa is going about our Catholic Churches all over are at stake. No wonder the non christians are taking advantage of our weakness and trampling us. My Jesus, Mama Mary please save me and those who love you the most and want to stick by the sacraments come what may.
Yes, factors such as lonliness and such do affect those who abandon the priesthood, but the fact is that most of them do so for lack of prayer and a truly deep relation with Jesus Christ and they fall in love with a woman.
As for Francis’s motive, I would assume that like all his gestures, there are several. As for ordaining married men to the priesthood, it is possible, but with an extemely important proviso if such a move is to be in accordance with the universal tradition of the ancient Church. That is what was called “lex continentiae”. Married men were ordained to the diaconate, presbyterate and episcopate, but they and their wives had to make a written commitment to live in complete continence. There is a body of serious scholarship about this matter which cannot be ignored. Does Francis want to resurrect this authentic tradition? My own position is that even though it is possible, it would provoke other problems of a practical nature. Do we want a two tier clergy in the Church, one with 7 years of study of philosophy and theology and another from married men who have another career, and who have taken some courses on weekends? How are they to be paid even rich countries, not to mention poor Third World countries? In the ancient Church, if a bishop, priest or deacon had a child, with his wife obviously, after ordination he was considered an adulterer, as he was thought to be married to the Church. Another matter is that there is no proof or evidence that the introduction of a married clergy would in fact solve the vocation problem, as Protestant communities have the same problem.
I think we need remember that any ministry is a calling from God, then other issues matters to nothing really. Thats what holy spirit tells me.
So the next Synod will not be about the celibacy of the priesthood – so what? Does anybody really believe that Frankenpope needs a Synod to exert his malevolent will? If, as Presbyterium ordinis states, celibacy is not a fundamental requirement of the nature of the priesthood and “only” a discipline, then he can change the discipline any time he wants.
To be honest I thought he would go for this before he attempted to introduce the dissolubility of marriage – it is much easier on paper (Conciliar paper at any rate.) However, modernists have their own reasons for wanting to retain celibacy so I still think it will be harder for him to get his supporters on board with this.
Argentina must be in a Catholic shambles that’s all I can assume by what I hear and see, is it?