Armagh, Northern Ireland, Feb 13, 2020 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop of Armagh said Thursday that the pope’s apostolic exhortation on the Amazon was foremost a call to preserve the region, and that a focus on its failure to address the priestly ordination of married men is undue.
“I understand there has been disappointment over the airwaves yesterday, and a lot of people feeling that perhaps this was a moment at which Pope Francis was going to express his views on the ordination of married men as priests,” Archbishop Eamon Martin said Feb. 13 to the Irish public broadcaster RTE.
“But I think Pope Francis would be disappointed if this is the issue that we’re all talking about today, because his exhortation is a huge cry from the Amazon and a cry from the heart to protect that region that is being cruelly destroyed by, I suppose, the exploitation of its resources, the destruction of its natural beauty and its life.”
“He says, ‘listen, the whole world has a responsiblity to try and preserve the equilibrum of the planet, which so much depends on the health of the Amazon and the ecosystems there’; so his whole exhortaion is really in line with his thinking from a few years ago, in his famous encyclical Laudato si’; it’s really a call for the protection of the earth.”
While Pope Francis was expected to focus in Querida Amazonia on a proposal to ordain married priests in the Amazon region, the pope instead emphasized the importance of collaboration in apostolic ministry by Catholics in various states of life.
Archbishop Martin noted that the Pope “chose not to mention” the priestly ordination of married men.
“It’s been said he refused this or refused that; he’s actually left the question. I think that he’s done so in order to encourage all of us to focus on much bigger questions about Church ministry, organization, the involvement of lay people in the Church, the involvement of women in the Church, and he calls on the local Church there to actually officially recognize these roles in a way which it hasn’t done until now,” the archbishop commented.
Pressed on the topic, Archbishop Martin said that a call to consider the priestly ordination of married men was made in one of the 120 paragraphs of the Amazon synod’s final document, “so it wasn’t even at the Amazon synod the main theme of the synod, it was on this other issue I’ve been speaking to you about, the corruption, exploitation of the Amazon, the destruction of the indigenous peoples there, their displacement, oppression. These are the issues that he bishops at the Amazonian synod in October were most passionate about.”
He emphasized that Francis is urging the Church “to step back and look at the bigger issues for mission. One of his key themes since he began his pontificate is that the Church needs to go out, and therefore he’s calling on all of us throughout the world to respond to this crisis for priests in the Amazon.”
“I know we think we’re very short on priests, but a Church which loses its missionary spurt and its missionary zeal is a Church which is dying, and I think that’s what Pope Francis is saying to us: stay missionary, get out there, go out and help these people.”
Archbishop Martin said that “if we’re to respond to Pope Francis’ call here in Ireland then we too need to be looking at how are we recognizing the role of our lay faithful, how are we recognizing officially and presenting in our Church the role of women; and these aren’t simply about ordination to the priesthood, but a recognition of the richness and the charisms … that lay people, lay women and men, can bring to our Church in terms of organization, proclaiming the Word, leading prayer, administering parishes, making decisions at a local and diocesan level, even exercising the pastoral care which in the past priests would have done.”
“It’s when we have this worshipping, vibrant, and living Christian community, it’s then that we have new vocations,” he stated.
In a Feb. 12 statement on Querida Amazonia, Archbishop Martin said it “highlights the problems of poverty, economic and social injustice and the violation of human rights which are intertwined in the vicious cycle of ecological and human degradation.”
He added that “Despite the challenges we have here in Ireland with finding enough priests and religious to serve our parishes, we should not forget that Ireland has always been a country which has responded to the Church’s call to mission … It would be wonderful if some Irish priests, religious and lay missionaries today were to consider offering even a five year period of ministry to the Amazon.”
Pressed nevertheless on the topic of priestly ordination of married men by RTE, the archbishop said that “this question is still open, I’m open to this question, I’m open to this question in the universal Church. I think Pope Francis recognizes it’s a question where there’s a lot of divided thinking, and I think that we can recognize the joy and beauty of the gift of the priesthood where a man gives his life wholly and entirely dedicated to God, set apart for the service of Christ and his Church, a real gift to the Church. At the same time, we have to look at other roles, other ministries within the Church.”
He said that “I’m very much open to the idea” of the priestly ordination of married men, “and I think Pope Francis is too. He doesn’t shut the idea down, he leaves it open for further dicussion within the Church.”
The final document of the synod had proposed “that criteria and dispositions be established by the competent authority, within the framework of Lumen Gentium 26, to ordain as priests suitable and respected men of the community … who have had a fruitful permanent diaconate and receive an adequate formation for the priesthood, in order to sustain the life of the Christian community through the preaching of the Word and the celebration of the Sacraments in the most remote areas of the Amazon region.”
Andrea Tornielli, the Vatican’s editorial director, wrote Feb. 12 that “after praying and reflecting,” Pope Francis “has decided to respond not by foreseeing changes or further possibilities of exceptions from those already provided for by current ecclesiastical discipline, but by asking that the essentials be the starting point,” for discussions regarding priestly ministry in the Amazon.
The pope’s failure explicity to permit the priestly ordination of married men in the Amazon has not deterred some of those who are calling for the practice.
Bishop Augusto Martin Quijano Rodriguez, Vicar Apostolic of Pucallpa, told Reuters that “the door is still open,” and that “the pope is asking for reflection. This proposal is still ongoing.”
The Central Committee of German Catholics, an influential lay group which is jointly managing the so-called synodal process with the German bishops’ conference, accused Pope Francis of a “lack of courage for real reforms” in his Amazonian exhortation.
ZdK wrote that the pope “does not find the courage to implement real reforms on the issues of consecration of married men and the liturgical skills of women that have been discussed for 50 years.”
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So does this mean that Pope Francis is now going to let all Catholic Bishops and Priests, from around the world, simply govern their Catholic flock in any way that they want to?
Just disgusting on every proposal. I look forward to hearing that the Pope has excommunicated all of these Bishops from the CATHOLIC church. Should he fail to do so,and attempt to co-opt this into the larger church, I suspect the movement to the Latin Mass will be massive.There is nothing to stop them from breaking away too. If the Germans want to run a carnival side-show, let them do it with a new church name and someone else’s money. I hope the Bishops who lacked the spine to veto this know that they will have to account for their actions to God one day. Or, maybe they dont believe that anymore either.
Francis held two private meetings with James Martin and has yet to correct or condemn Cardinal McElroy’s false teachings about human sexuality. Not sure we should hold our breath waiting for Francis to grow a spine and actually do his job, sad to say.
That’s just it. It is their money. This is why it’s a big deal. The German church is the richest church in the world — by far.
Ugh. The more of the LEFTIST crazy I see in the church, the more attractive the traditional movement in the church becomes.
“Yuck” was my immediate reaction to this headline—neither a theological nor reasoned response. “Ugh” is understandable, too. I cannot envision a more chaotic—dare one say “hellish” spiritual environment than one with thousands of shrill voices spouting their self deified opinions to whole congregations. By the way, I have experienced this squeamish environment on a small scale. The devil is definitely in the details.
It’s hard to imagine that German seminaries are bursting with candidates for the priesthood, or that a move such as this will attract even a few. Anyone actually serious about the faith will head for the FSSP or some similar traditionalist order.
An open invitation to Gays to come out of the closet.
Hey! What about pedophilia? Is the big-tented, new and improved catholic church going to let calendars dictate who we love?
And what about sibling romance? Isn’t that just more ways to love?
And what about unions between humans and their beloved pets? Is the new now-a-go-go church going to turn its back on other-species-attracted persons?
Doesn’t God love *these* people too? Don’t *they* fit inside the big new catholic tent of love?
And what about people who masturbate? Shouldn’t the church recognize these special self-satisfying relationships? Shouldn’t they be allowed to marry themselves?
The evil one’s minions on the left have finally taken off their masks. And the writhing, wormy, pustulous visage beneath is not a pretty sight.
If a faithful Pontiff was manning the helm on the Barque of Peter all of the protestants masquerading as Catholic clergy in Germany – and elsewhere – would have already been dismissed from the clerical state and received Ferendae Sententiae excommunications.
Repent Jorge, while you still can.
Pope Francis said in November that he doesn’t want another Protestant Church in Germany. Well, your holiness, it’s not about what you want. It’s about what you deserve. And it certainly looks like what you’re going to get.
Christ never turned anyone away from his ministry. It is better that us sinners sit together in church and listen to the word of God than for us sinners being locked out.
“Locked out,” or, as in any and all of us (inclusivity!) not listening?
As in the “word of God”: “Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this perverse generation!” (Acts 2:40).
Or, maybe this from St. Paul: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:9-11).
Gerald, you’re right that Jesus never turned people away. But he absolutely let them leave if they were not inclined to live according to his teachings.
He even invited them to go.
And clearly the German Church has many, many people who have no intention of living as Catholics.
And so they are determined to destroy the faith they have rejected.
I wonder what will happen to those Germans who do intend to live as Catholics in these apostate German dioceses. We need to pray for them and the Vatican needs to proactively protect and provide authentic and faithful worship alternatives for them.
Pope Francis started his pontificate by famously urging “let’s make a mess.” He has succeeded in enabling that in Germany and is now trying to get the toothpaste back in the tube.
True, Jesus never turned anyone away. However, He always told people that they had to give up their sinful lives. He never condemned the sinners, but He always insisted that they repent and change their lives. As for myself, I have been and am a sinner, but I have repented, and with the grace of God, I am trying to live a holy life. I could not remain how I was.
Well, keep in mind the old song, And the Beat Goes On. “Do you ever wonder That to win, somebody’s got to lose”.
It’s not complex. If Germany’s Synodale Weg is permitted by the Vatican to win, then who is the loser? Or rather, to be Justifiably cynical, true to Byzantium on the Tiber long range policy is it that to win we permit the loss?
A current essay ‘Cardinals Müller, Burke rebuke German bishops over same-sex union blessings’ raises an issue of interpretation of events and response. Raymond Arroyo in an interview with both Cardinals [to which the essay was drawn] were asked the usual questions except at the end, Arroyo asked Müller what he thought about Francis’ 10 year legacy. Card Müller made no reference to Pope Francis. Whatsoever. He kind of rambled almost incoherently about German Synodale orthodoxy that if anyone listening would think his response was entirely to the second question Arroyo pinned on the tail of the first.
A weakness of our best hierarchy is the unwillingness to be more direct on the paramount issue of Francis’ pontificate [Burke was miles ahead of Müller on candor], his policies, the effects within the Church. Almost as if they have a sacred duty never to express legitimate queries that really must be addressed in line with their mission as defenders of the faith. Card Müller was among the first orthodox churchmen to denounce the four Dubia cardinals, Card Burke one of four. It seems a form of Ultramontanism.
Makes me wonder how many pieces of silver they were paid… including the 11 that abstained.