Married men as priests not a Phl issue

A growing number of Catholics in the Philippines are getting agitated, perhaps needlessly, by reports that say Pope Francis is considering allowing married men to act as priests. In fact The FREEMAN has already ran both a story and a mini survey meant to measure how Cebuanos are reacting to the news, first reported by foreign media and sourced right from the Vatican.

The agitated reactions may be needless and premature in light of the following facts: 1) Pope Francis never said he was considering allowing married men to act as priests. 2) The consideration to allow married men to act as priests does not in any way involve the Philippines. Clearly there was a lot of shooting from the hip involved here.

Here is what actually happened, based on a careful reading of the media reports that triggered the uproar: Two high-ranking Brazilian prelates, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, president of the Episcopal Commission for the Amazon, and Bishop Erwin Krautler, the commission secretary, asked the pope to consider allowing married men to act as priests as a means to address a severe shortage of priests in the Amazon region, which encompasses nearly a dozen South American countries.

As leader of the Roman Catholic Church and father to all priests, the pope cannot just strike down every idea that is proposed to him. Thus, in reaction to the idea pushed by the two Latin American prelates, both of whom happen to be his friends, he being an Argentinian, Pope Francis agreed to have the matter be included in the agenda for the next synod of the region's bishops in 2019 at the Vatican.

So here are the crucial points that need to be clarified. The proposal to allow married men to become priests did not come from the pope. The pope's hand in the whole controversy was merely to agree to have it discussed at the next synod of Pan-Amazon bishops in 2019. The proposal was meant to address a problem of priestly shortage in a specific area -the Amazon.

So maybe here in the Philippines we can all relax. It appears we are in no way part of the controversy. Besides, it is not as if Filipino married men are getting terribly excited to jump into the lake of priestly responsibilities. Indeed, without meaning any disrespect, the situation in the Philippines might be a little of the reverse priests eyeing longingly to be uncelibate.