Why Pope Francis may open the door to married priests

By ERASMUS

NOT FOR the first time, Pope Francis—or, to be more precise, his aides in the Vatican—have raised eyebrows. On June 17th, in a document that sets the agenda for a meeting in October to discuss the problems of the Amazon basin, they declared that the Catholic church should consider ordaining married men. The problems of Amazon communities range from the destruction of the natural environment to the persecution of its indigenous peoples. For the Catholic church, however, there is another pressing issue—it does not have anywhere near enough priests to minister to the existing Catholic population, let alone proselytise or fend off a growing challenge from Evangelical Christianity. Some Catholic figures talk of confronting a “Eucharist famine”.

The document asks the bishops who will attend the gathering, or synod, to discuss making priests of “elders, preferably indigenous, respected and accepted by their community, even if they have a constituted and stable family”. It also moots the idea of women taking part in what it calls “official ministry,” but quite what that could mean is unclear. The bishops would not be able to authorise the change, but they could recommend it to Francis who does have the power to enact it.

Those versed in the law and lore of Catholicism might be tempted to ask what all the fuss is about. Priestly celibacy is not required by doctrine. It is a tradition, or discipline. There were plenty of married priests in early Christianity. Even today Eastern-rite churches—those in Eastern Europe and the Middle East that have practices similar to those of the Orthodox but regard the pope as their leader—have priests with wives and children. And since 1994, when the Church of England began ordaining women, almost 400 Anglican priests have been accepted into the Catholic church, including many with families. Roughly one in 10 of the Catholic priests in England and Wales was formerly an Anglican.

Nevertheless, what is being proposed now is qualitatively different. The Eastern rite churches are exceptional in many ways and account for less than 2% of the world’s baptised Catholics. The decision by Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict, to open the doors to traditionalist Anglican vicars, is in effect a temporary concession. When the last of the Anglican ecclesiastical refugees dies, if no change has been made in the meantime, the Catholic priesthood of the Western or Latin rite will go back to being entirely celibate.

In contrast, a decision to ordain married men in the Amazon, however exceptional it might appear, would set a precedent for the entire church. That is in part because the problems of the Amazon reflect a broader challenge that faces the Catholic church in much of the rest of the world.

In parts of the Amazon basin, the ratio of baptised Catholics to priests exceeds 8,000 to one. But then it is more than 5,000 to one in Africa. Globally, it has risen from about 1,900 to one in 1980 to about 3,100 to one in 2016. Until now, the lowest ratios have been in Europe and North America. But in Europe the average age of priests is high and, as death takes its toll, the figure will rise steeply. In America, the situation is not much better: already, one in five US parishes has no resident priest. The problem facing the Catholic church in the Amazon basin, then, is simply a worldwide problem writ large.

In Africa, priestly vocations are rising. In Asia, they are more or less holding steady. But, unless there is a wholly unexpected reversal in the steeply falling trend in other parts of the world, the remedy proposed for the Amazon basin will be just as valid elsewhere. The snappiest phrase from the document is one that refers to facilitating the transition from a “Church that visits” to a “Church that remains”. It is probably not the last time you will hear it.