Pope Francis has recently revealed that he and the Roman Catholic Church are considering the possibility of allowing married men to become priests.
The rather unusual proposal has come after the Catholic Church’s announced clergy shortage. Speaking to German newspaper Die Zeit, Pope Francis said the lack of Catholic priests was an “enormous problem” for the Church.
Pope Francis also said they were considering allowing married men to join the clergy, saying: “We need to consider if ‘viri probati’ could be a possibility.”
“If so, we would need to determine what duties they could undertake, for example, in remote communities.”
However Pope Francis clearly stated that the ruling would only allow men who are already married to be ordained as priests, but single men who are already priests would not be allowed to marry.