The Vatican on Thursday rejected calls for the Roman Catholic Church to allow priests to marry, reaffirming the "importance" of celibacy despite fears of a schism over the issue.
"The importance of the choice of celibacy for priests, according to the Catholic tradition was reaffirmed," the Vatican said in its statement after Pope Benedict XVI had met for three hours with the top leaders of the Holy See administration.
The pontiff met with 20 Vatican department heads to "analyze the situation" created by the "disobedience" of Zambian archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, who was ex-communicated in September for ordaining four married men as bishops, a Vatican spokesman said earlier.
Milingo, founder of the "Married Priests Now!" movement, is gathering some 1,000 married priests at a meeting in New York early next month.
The Vatican statement said the pope and his deputies "received detailed information on requests for exemption from the obligation of celibacy and for readmission to priestly ministries" before reaching their conclusion through "communal reflection."
Milingo said in Washington following his ex-communication by the Vatican: "We have nearly 25,000 married priests in the United States and 150,000 in the world who are not called to serve in this medieval Church that requires celibacy."
The former archbishop of the Zambian capital Lusaka, who stunned the Church in 2001 by marrying a South Korean acupuncturist in a mass "Moonies"-style ceremony, wrote an open letter to the pope on Nov. 4 asking that married priests and bishops be "gradually reinstated into the fabric of our Church."
During a worldwide shortage of priests, he wrote, "there are 150,000 married priests who are ready and willing to serve."
Milingo has widespread support among US Catholics, 63 percent of whom favor allowing priests to marry, which could encourage more men to enter the priesthood, according to a Gallup poll.
Between 1975 and 2004, the number of priests shrank by 28 percent in the US, while the number of Catholics grew 33 percent, Gallup said.
READINESS: According to a survey of 2,000 people, 86 percent of Swedes believe the country is worth defending in the event of a military attack Swedes are stocking up on food items in case of war, as more conflict in Europe no longer feels like a distant possibility, and authorities encourage measures to boost readiness. At a civil preparedness fair in southwest Stockholm, 71-year-old Sirkka Petrykowska said that she is taking the prospect of hostilities seriously and preparing as much as she can. “I have bought a camping stove. I have taken a course on preservation in an old-fashioned way, where you can preserve vegetables, meat and fruit that lasts for 30 years without a refrigerator,” Petrykowska said. “I’ve set aside blankets for warmth, I
FRUSTRATIONS: One in seven youths in China and Indonesia are unemployed, and many in the region are stuck in low-productivity jobs, the World Bank said Young people across Asia are struggling to find good jobs, with many stuck in low-productivity work that the World Bank said could strain social stability as frustrations fuel a global wave of youth-led protests. The bank highlighted a persistent gap between younger and more experienced workers across several Asian economies in a regional economic update released yesterday, noting that one in seven young people in China and Indonesia are unemployed. The share of people now vulnerable to falling into poverty is now larger than the middle class in most countries, it said. “The employment rate is generally high, but the young struggle to
ENERGY SHIFT: A report by Ember suggests it is possible for the world to wean off polluting sources of power, such as coal and gas, even as demand for electricity surges Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, a new analysis said. Global solar generation grew by a record 31 percent in the first half of the year, while wind generation grew 7.7 percent, according to the report by the energy think tank Ember, which was released after midnight yesterday. Solar and wind generation combined grew by more than 400 terawatt hours, which was more than the increase in overall global demand during the same period, it said. The findings suggest it is
‘ARMED CONFLICT’: At least 21 people have died in such US attacks, while experts say the summary killings are illegal even if they target confirmed narcotics traffickers US forces on Friday carried out a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat off the coast of Venezuela, killing four people, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said. The latest strike, which Hegseth announced in a post on X, brings the number of such US attacks to at least four, leaving at least 21 people dead. An accompanying video shared by Hegseth showed a boat speeding across the waves before being engulfed in smoke and flames. “Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed,” the Pentagon chief wrote. He said the strike “was conducted in international waters just off the
RSS