VATICAN CITY (CNS): Two months after taking over as head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy, Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes has issued a strong and lengthy defence of priestly celibacy.
“Priestly celibacy is a precious gift of Christ to his Church, a gift that must continually be meditated upon and strengthened, especially in the deeply secularised modern world,” Cardinal Hummes said.
The cardinal made the comments in a full page article he wrote for the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. It was published on February 14 under the headline “The importance of priestly celibacy”.
Cardinal Hummes, formerly the Archbishop of Sao Paolo, arrived at his new Vatican post last December, shortly after telling a Brazilian newspaper that priestly celibacy was a disciplinary norm and not a Church dogma and was therefore open to change.
Vatican officials were concerned, and within hours of arriving in Rome Cardinal Hummes issued a statement emphasising that priestly celibacy was a long and valuable tradition in the Latin rite Church, based on strong theological and pastoral arguments.
