June 18, 2019

Andrew Campbell 

The Vatican is to officially assign older married men as priests in remote Amazon regions, revealed a Vatican document on June 17. The big change is to reply the needs of the faraway areas and the fact that the Catholics do not have enough clergy.

The Vatican prepared the document for a religious meeting of South American bishops on the Amazon in October. The document’s idea to ordain "viri probati" — Latin for matured married men of firm faith— has been discussed more than ten years. However, it was not until Pope Francis’ raising the issue in 2015, the question attracted new attention. Pope Francis is the first pope from the Latin America and understands the challenges that the Amazon church is facing.
 

The Catholic Church has kept the tradition of male celibate priests for over 1000 years. Pope Francis has also shown that the church will remain the commitment of celibacy for priests. However, some are still worried that the promise may not last long and it is a step of ordaining married men in other areas.

Photo:Webshot.