Mandatory celibacy for priests is a "temporary prescription that can be reviewed."
Pope Francis speaks surprisingly about an almost "taboo" topic for the Vatican. The bond of celibacy is a discipline introduced at a certain point in its history by the Western Church, it is very rare for the Holy Father to speak explicitly about it.
Yet Bergoglio did so in an interview with the Argentine site "Infobae", on the occasion of his tenth anniversary of pontificate.
«It is a temporary prescription, it is not eternal like priestly ordination. Celibacy is a discipline,” she says. "So can it be revised?" asks the interviewer Daniel Hadad. "Yes", the Pope replied curtly.
However, Francis "does not believe" that a possible abolition of celibacy in priests could increase the number of vocations.
In this regard, the Pontiff recalls: «In the Catholic Church there are married priests. All Eastern Rite are married. Here in the Curia we have one, I just came across it today, who has a wife and child. There is no contradiction for a priest to get married. Celibacy in the Western Church is a temporary prescription: I don't know if it resolves one way or the other, but it is temporary in this sense; it is not eternal like priestly ordination, which is forever, whether you like it or not. Whether you leave or not is another matter, but it is forever. On the other hand, celibacy is a discipline".
Celibacy also has a negative side, Bergoglio explains: “Sometimes it can lead you to machismo. A priest who doesn't know how to work with women is missing something, he isn't mature. The Vatican was very macho, but it's part of the culture. It's nobody's fault, it's always been like this."
Now, however, things are changing: «Women have a different methodology. They have a sense of time, of waiting, of patience, different from man. This does not diminish the man, they are simply different and must complement each other».
(Unioneonline/L)
