MARRIED PRIESTS IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC LATIN CHURCH?

In the midst of suffocating news of scandals emanating from sexual impropriety of celibate priests all over the world everyone looked for a change of mind in Pope Francis, who is liberal in many aspects of church life including those of faith and morals, in the discipline of mandatory celibacy which is the fundamental cause behind sexual immorality of and abuses by Roman Catholic priests. However, without being responsive to the fundamental reason behind priestly sexual immorality the Bishop of Rome is willing to consider the possibility of married priesthood within the Latin Church for the wrong reason.

According to CNN, March 9, 2017, “Pope Francis has said he is open to married men becoming priests to combat the Roman Catholic Church’s shortage of clergy”. The Pope was interviewed by Die Zeit, a German newspaper, and it reports that he is considering viri probati, proven or tested men, to become priests for areas where there is a shortage of priests.

Apparently, the pope is least bothered about the immorality of priests as the major thrust for any change of the current discipline of imposed celibacy. In other words, the Roman Church still feels that it is a personal problem of weak priests, and the Church has nothing to do with their fall! Sad!!

According to the Pope “voluntary celibacy is not a solution”. In other words, he is not solving the problem, which means, according to some Protestant theologians, the Church still continues to be a whore! It wants to perpetuate its role of sending many priests into eternal damnation by pushing them into immorality. He further said: “For the time being, I am in favor of maintaining celibacy with the pros and cons that it has, because it has been ten centuries of good experiences more often than failure.” ! (Editor’s Note: Readers may expect a detailed article or editorial soon in The Voice of Orthodoxy; keep on reading thevoiceoforthodoxy.com or voiceoforthodoxy,org).