POPE FRANCIS: THERE IS A HEMORRHAGE OF PRIESTS AND NUNS THROUGHOUT EUROPE

This past Monday, Pope Francis met with the Italian Bishops’ Conference at their annual assembly in Rome.

In televised remarks to the Bishops, the Holy Father voiced his concern about the “hemorrhaging” of Nuns and Priests, especially throughout Europe, where the number of Priests has dropped by 2,502 since 2014, leading to a “crisis of vocations” in the region.

The Pope blamed such factors as demographic changes, scandals in the church and cultural trends that dissuade young people from making lifelong commitments and make them value instead the “dictatorship of money.”

“How many seminaries, churches, monasteries and convents will be closed in the next few years?” he asked. “God only knows.”

In the private discussions that followed his public remarks, the Holy Father was direct in telling the Bishops to care more diligently about the quality of seminary candidates than the quantity.

The Pope touched on the topic of homosexuality, particularly when it comes to individuals with “deep-seated tendencies” or who practice “homosexual acts”, yet who want to enter the seminary.

In these cases, “if you have even the slightest doubt it's better not to let them enter,” Francis said, because these acts or deep-seated tendencies can lead to scandals and can compromise the life of the seminary, as well as the man himself and his future priesthood.

Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia-Citta della Pieve, President of the Italian Bishops' Conference, confirmed Francis' comments about homosexuality in a press conference which followed the Pope’s private remarks.

While the Pope's statements on the issue of homosexuality and the seminary reflect the Church's teaching on the topic, they stand in stark contrast to remarks he is quoted as having made to one of the gay victims of sexual abuse in the scandal that has rocked the Church in Chile.  The Pope is quoted by the victim as having said, “You are gay, that’s how God made you and there is nothing wrong with that.”

So, as he is wont to do, the Holy Father has reflected the Church’s teaching regarding the impediment which homosexuality poses to Ordination to the Priesthood, while at the same time reserving judgment against gays themselves...a strategy I commented upon in my immediately preceding article.

Francis has already said the Church must study whether it’s possible to ordain married men of proven faith, so-called “viri probati,” to minister in remote communities facing priest shortages.

Whether he will suggest that European Bishops begin looking in the same direction remains to be seen.

From my point of view, the Ordination of married men to the Priesthood is a question of “when” and not “if”.  And, as I have consistently suggested, the first place for candidates can be readily found in the overabundant pool of Permanent Deacons, whose present ministry afford little pastoral assistance or service to the Church.