Two Belgian bishops are openly questioning whether celibacy should be mandatory for priests:
The bishop of Hasselt, Patrick Hoogmartens, and his counterpart in Bruges, Jozef De Kesel, said in separate comments that married men should not automatically be excluded from priesthood.
The comments come amid the scandal over sex abuse among the clergy which has shaken the Belgian church to its core. Some have questioned whether celibacy is in part to blame and have called for the rule to be rethought. The Vatican insists celibacy isn’t responsible and has defended it as nonnegotiable, even as the number of priests around the world continues to decline.
A spokesman for Archbishop Andre-Mutien Leonard, the head of Belgium’s Roman Catholic Church, said in reaction to the two bishops’s comments that any discussion of structural issues surrounding the church should be held at a global level, and not be limited to Belgium.
Pope Benedict XVI has staunchly defended celibacy, saying in June that it is a “great sign of faith.”
However, in Belgium and other countries, celibacy has been linked to the shortage of new priests in Europe’s parishes and to the sex abuse scandal.
Even though the Hasselt bishop said that abolishing celibacy would not solve the problem of abuse, he did see a possibility for married priests to serve alongside those who vow celibacy.
“I can imagine two sorts of priesthood. Those who live celibately and those who have a relationship — are married,” Hoogmartens told VRT radio.
Over the weekend, the new Bruges bishop questioned whether the church should stick to mandatory celibacy.
“People for whom celibacy is humanly impossible should also have a chance to become a priest,” he said.
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