Pope Francis shot down a proposal Wednesday that would have ordained married men as priests in remote areas of the Amazon, where there is a dearth of clergy.
Francis responded to the Latin American bishops’ proposal Wednesday in a 32-page letter, Beloved Amazon, saying the bishops should pray for more vocations to the priesthood instead of ordaining married men.
“Priests are necessary, but this does not mean that permanent deacons (of whom there should be many more in the Amazon region), religious women and lay persons cannot regularly assume important responsibilities for the growth of communities,” Francis wrote, “and perform those functions ever more effectively with the aid of a suitable accompaniment.”
Liberal factions of the Church saw the proposal as an opportunity for progressive change that could have undone requiring celibacy for priests.
“People are starting to adjust their expectations,” Massimo Faggioli, a church historian at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, said. “The major reforms they were expecting of him may never come.”
Francis previously said there need to be “bold proposals” to meet the needs of Catholics living in the Amazon. Only priests can consecrate the Eucharist, which Catholics believe is the body of Christ, so many villagers in the Amazon go months without attending Mass or receiving the sacraments.
Francis used the majority of the document to address other issues such as protecting the Amazon’s culture, climate change, and fighting “for the rights of the poor.”
