Bishops call on Pope to end celibacy rule

An assembly of Catholic bishops from the Amazon yesterday passed a proposal that married men in their diosceses could be ordained priests — which may lead to a change in the Vatican’s rules on priestly celibacy.

Pope Francis will now consider this. Yesterday he said he would also reconvene a commission to study the history of women deacons in the early centuries of the Catholic Church, responding to calls by women that they be allowed to take up the role today.