Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Pope Francis Rules Out Change in Priestly Celibacy

Pope Francis is ruling out a relaxing of the rules of celibacy for priests, according to a media report.

Rome (kath.net/KNA) Pope Francis is said to have ruled out a move away from celibacy for priests, according to a media report. The Italian newspaper "Il Messaggero" quoted him on Wednesday as saying:

"Priestly celibacy is to remain as it is." He addressed a meeting with the Italian Episcopal Conference on the question of a bishop, whether the obligation for 
 celibacy will change in the future for a priest, the newspaper reported in its online edition. The encounter with the Italian Episcopal Conference  took place on Monday. After the Pope's opening speech, the bishops had the opportunity to ask questions of Francis behind closed doors.

http://kath.net/news/55231

21 comments:

  1. If he kept making decisions in the right direction, like this one....less people would find him so horrendous as a pope. His thinking out loud about the possibility of a commission for the idea of women deacons has been twisted in the media as a done deal. That's how something as horrible as the idea of women deacons would become a fact....some nutjob bishop(s) think the Vatican will approve, so they go ahead and "ordain" women deacons on their own.
    I have friends and associates...all once traditional Catholics, who left the Church over the general abuse of Vatican II etc. My cousin became Assyrian Orthodox in India, one friend from India became a Buddhist, one neighbor became Jewish(Orthodox) the same as her husband, and several I know became Greek Orthodox. If the Catholic Church in my lifetime ever had women deacons, (God forbid....women priests), or married priests, I think I would go Greek Orthodox too. A family friend became Episcopalian....but I don't understand the switch to that because liturgically and mindset wise, they are worse than many liberal Catholics!

    Damian Malliapalli

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  2. "Celibacy" could mean (1) perpetual continence or (2) not married. Which is he referring to? Both?

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    1. It deals with priestly celibacy as it stands and has stood for 2,000 years, I guess.

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  3. I can't think of anything else it would refer to other than the priestly celibacy we have always maintained as a Church.With this, I'm willing to praise Pope Francis( something I have never done), for apparently making and stating the right thing.
    The bad thing about Pope Francis is (I;m giving him the benefit of the doubt here), it that because of his general very progressive mindset, people who are likeminded....or worse...will use him to their benefit. They will claim they are doing this or that because Pope Francis approves...when he really doesn't.
    Just wait....all these 75+ year old nuns (I saw a group picture of the membership of that nun group Pope Francis talked to last week about "women deacons", and 90% of them were very aged, lay clothes nuns pushing 75-80 years of age. I don't know how many Orders they represent, but they represent some of the formerly BIG Orders in the Church numbers wise....which after 50 years of Vatican II abuses etc. have all shrunk by 60-70% of their former numbers (pre-Vatican II). The Good Shepherd nuns for one group, have gone from 12,000+ before Vatican II, to about 3,000 today with an average age approaching 80. For them, and most of the other groups Pope Francis spoke to, EXTINCTION TIME is just around the corner.
    Damian Malliapalli

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  4. JPII already closed that door, locked it and tossed the key. If I am not mistaken it was the only time he ( or any of the last five popes) ever invoked the Holy Spirit.

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    1. About women as priests he did but celibacy? Don't recall that he spoke infallibly (or at least affirmed) on this.

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    2. Yeah! And look what happened there, he exchanged secret romantic letters with a married woman..........what a hypocrite

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    3. She was a close friend to him.There was no sexual exchange between the two. He did nothing wrong. What are you talking about-hypocrite. He is human you know!!!

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  5. Frank has to backpedal into orthodoxy occasionally to keep the conservatives believing in him. He is a consummate politician!

    Seattle Kim

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    1. And to encourage the SSPX to make their move to Rome. After that..."New"1962 missal and only God knows what else.

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  6. And that's not a good thing. A consummate politician. Reminds me of Clinton (both of them, but mostly Hillary). I hope she looses big time in November.
    Better to have someone who says stupid things, than someone who is genuinely evil.
    Damian Malliapalli

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  7. Things are so screwed up with Pope "make a mess" Francis that I take nothing seriously that he says, even when it seems positive and doctrinally sound. He is a politician and a mad man.

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    1. And all Catholics should respond to Pope "make a mess" Francis by doing just that. At Saints Peter and Paul RCM in York, PA, that is what we do.
      http://www.saintspeterandpaulrcm.com/

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  8. Have you ever wondered why there is no push in progressive circles for married sisters and nuns? I think most people realize implicitly why that is.

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  9. Don't believe it, if he says or is reported to have said "rules out" just get ready because this means he's going to do the exact opposite. "not a true pastor but a destroyer"

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    1. Ditto, the same things I think about him, the ultimate destroyer.

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  10. Hello!!! i just don't understand all this..first we hear that our pope francis was going to push for...''optional celibacy''..it sounds like it is all talk at the vatican...but no one does anything to fix this entire mess!! optional celibacy would have been the right thing to do for our church. Mandatory celibacy was brought in for politics..and a very man made straight jacket rule!! our priests are humans not ''robots'' as the church expects them to me for many centuries!! so shameful!! what are the women deacons going to do?? they are not priests?? pope francis wanted to bring in optional...to gain priests!! what is going on here???? i hope our dear pope will bring in..''optional celibacy''...otherwise all this pervetiness in priests and sexual scandals will continue!!! thank you!!!!

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