The Vatican has lifted a longstanding ban on the ordination of
married men to the priesthood in the Eastern Catholic churches.
The tradition and discipline of the Eastern churches allows for the
ordination of married men to the priesthood. (Bishops must be unmarried,
however, and once ordained, a priest cannot marry.) The Vatican has
repeatedly approved this tradition, while insisting on the importance of
priestly celibacy in the Latin rite.
However, in the late 19th century, with the arrival of many Byzantine
Catholic immigrants in Canada, Latin-rite prelates complained that the
presence of married Catholic priests could create a “grave scandal.” The
Vatican eventually ruled that the Eastern churches could not ordain
married men in the countries where their communities form a minority of
the Catholic population. The rule has historically applied primarily to
Canada, the US, and Australia.
With a decree approved by Pope Francis, and signed on June 14 by
Cardinal Leonard Sandri, the Congregation for the Eastern Churches has
now rescinded that ban. Catholic bishops of the Eastern churches serving
in eparchies (dioceses) in the West are explicitly authorized to ordain
married men.
The decree requires a bishop of the Eastern Catholic Church to “give
prior notice, in writing, to the Latin Bishop of the candidate’s place
of residence, so as to obtain his opinion and any relevant information
[regarding the candidate].” An Eastern-rite bishop who ordained a
married man for service in another country is directed to inform the
episcopal conference of that country, and the Congregation for the
Eastern Churches, of this action.
In practice, the ban on married priests had been relaxed in recent
years, with the tacit acceptance of the Holy See. Some married priests
from the East have been assigned to serve parishes in the West, and some
men from the West have traveled to the East to be ordained before
returning to serve at home. In a few cases, bishops of the Eastern
churches have simply ignored the ban, ordaining married American men to
serve in American parishes.
The new Vatican document allowing for the ordination of married men
notes that when the ban was originally imposed, thousands of Catholics
of the Ruthenian Catholic community in Canada left to join the Orthodox
Church. The document also notes that when Pope Benedict XVI issued
Anglicanorum Coetibus,
allowing for the reception of Anglican communities into the Catholic
Church, he explicitly provided for the presence of married Catholic
priests. In 2012, Pope Benedict remarked that “the ministry of married
priests is a component of the ancient Eastern traditions,” which he
encouraged the Eastern Catholic churches to maintain.
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Zehnder's sermon began at 7am on Friday, November 7 and continued
until 7.32 am on Sunday, November 9. He was only allowed a five-minute
break every hour.
