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Pope to discuss married priests Pope in talks on married priests
(about 2 hours later)
Pope Benedict XVI has called a meeting of his top advisers at the Vatican to study requests from Catholic priests who wish to marry. Pope Benedict XVI has met top advisers at the Vatican to study requests from Catholic priests who wish to marry.
The Pope and his cardinals will discuss the case of a married African archbishop, excommunicated last year for ordaining other married priests. The Pope and his cardinals discussed the case of a married African archbishop, ex-communicated last year for ordaining other married priests.
But no change in the mandatory celibacy rule is expected. Correspondents say no change in the mandatory celibacy rule is expected.
Thousands of priests have left the Catholic Church in order to marry in recent years. Thousands of priests among about 400,000 worldwide have left the Catholic Church in order to marry in recent years.
There are about 400,000 Catholic priests worldwide according to Vatican statistics. The Vatican has released no statement yet on the meeting.
Ageing clergyAgeing clergy
But another estimated 70,000 former priests have been forced to leave their ministry in order to marry, about 20,000 of them in the United States alone. The Pope had called together all his top advisers - the cardinals heading different Vatican departments - to discuss the case of Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, the former head of the Roman Catholic Church in Zambia.
The average age of priests is well over 60 and in many countries new recruits to the priesthood, inhibited by the celibacy rule, are not coming forward in sufficient numbers to replace the older generation of Catholic clergy. He was ex-communicated last month ordaining four married priests as bishops in the United States.
The Pope has called together all his top advisers, the cardinals heading different Vatican departments, to discuss a particularly worrying case - that of an African prelate, the former head of the Roman Catholic Church in Zambia, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo. The former archbishop married a Korean woman and after first agreeing to leave her, is now cohabiting with her again.
Milingo was excommunicated last month for attempting to ordain four married priests as bishops in the United States. He set up an organisation called "Married Priests Now" and plans to hold a meeting of more than 1,000 married Catholic priests in New York next month.
His case is emblematic. The BBC's David Willey in Rome says the average age of priests is well over 60 and in many countries new recruits to the priesthood, inhibited by the celibacy rule, are not coming forward in sufficient numbers to replace the older generation of Catholic clergy.
He married a Korean woman and after first agreeing to leave her, he is now cohabiting with her again.
He set up an organisation called "Married Priests Now," and plans to hold a meeting of more than 1,000 married Catholic priests in New York next month.
It is a challenge the Pope cannot ignore.