Word: vatican
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...normal circumstances, Milingo's taste for the spotlight might cause the Vatican to simply ignore him. But the fact that the Pope called the meeting in the first place is telling. The question of specific dispensations and the broader question of celibacy is not a matter of fixed church doctrine, but has long been a tradition in the Latin church, while Eastern rite churches allow married men to become priests. Church insiders say that a small core of progressive Cardinals have been trying to open up discussion of the rules going well back into John Paul's papacy. Some observers...
...facto public spokesman for those opposing the Church's centuries-old tradition of priestly celibacy, however, may have offered Benedict a unique opportunity to clearly state his position on this hot-button request early in his papacy, as John Paul II did in his second year in office. Vatican sources note that there are several prominent Cardinals who want to at least fine tune the policy on celibacy. "I don't think the Pope cares about Milingo," says one senior Vatican official. "But he wants to give the Cardinals a chance to have their say. It's better to respond...
...viewers may remember that Milingo, who'd built a loyal international following for his passionate sermons and purported faith-healing prowess, shocked the Catholic Church in 2001 by suddenly marrying a South Korean woman in Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. Milingo later patched things up with the Vatican, which simply never recognized his marriage to his handpicked bride, who held a weeks-long sit-in protest in St. Peter's Square, demanding her husband back. Milingo later published a book in which he repented his marital vows, and was eventually placed in a backwater Italian diocese where Church...
...That show of support, however, isn't likely to sway the Vatican's thinking. Regardless of the shortage of future ranks for the priesthood, most Cardinals do not see allowing married men into the priesthood as the solution. "The value of the choice of priestly celibacy, according Catholic tradition, has been reaffirmed, and the need for solid human and Christian training, for seminarians as well as already ordained priests, has been reiterated," the Vatican said in its statement released Thursday afternoon, which did not mention Milingo. The note also cited discussion in the meeting of the requests of dispensation from...
...debate is unlikely to take on much steam under the current reign, though supporters of loosening the celibacy vows say that Benedict officially addressing the issue helps keep it alive for the future. One Vatican source told TIME that a surprising sign of support for the progressives on this issue may be coming from one of Benedict's most loyal deputies and a noted traditionalist, Vienna's Cardinal Cristoph Schonborn. Austria, coincidentally or not, is one of the countries most sorely in need of priests. So while the latest Milingo chapter may be over, there may be more plot twists...