Pope Francis says papal retirements could become normal, favours celibacy for priests but "door open to change"

Pope Francis says papal retirements could become normal in Church

REUTERS, ROME, MAY 27: Pope Francis said on Monday he would be open to retiring eventually like his predecessor, Benedict XVI, instead of ruling for life, adding that the concept of a "pope emeritus" could someday become normal in the Church.

"I will do what the Lord tells me to do," he told reporters on the plane returning from a trip to the Middle East, when asked if he someday would retire if his health did not permit him to rule the 1.2 billion-member Church properly.

"I think that Benedict XVI is not a unique case. I think we should see him as an institution who opened a door, the door of emeritus popes," the 77-year-old pontiff said.

He said the fact that people were living longer had made the possibility of popes resigning for health reasons in the future more likely.

"Will there be more (papal resignations)? God knows, but the door is open," he said.

Benedict became the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign when he voluntarily stepped down in February last year.

Pope says favours celibacy for priests but door open to change

Reuters

ROME, MAY 27

Pope Francis on Monday said he believed that Roman Catholic priests should be celibate but the rule was not an unchangeable dogma, and "the door is always open" to change.

Francis made similar comments when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires but his remarks to reporters on a plane returning from a Middle East trip were the first he has made since becoming pope.

"Celibacy is not a dogma," he said in answer to a question about whether the Catholic Church could some day allow priests to marry as they can in some other Christian Churches.

"It is a rule of life that I appreciate very much and I think it is a gift for the Church but since it is not a dogma, the door is always open," he said.

The Church teaches that a priest should dedicate himself totally to his vocation, essentially taking the Church as his spouse, in order to help fulfil its mission.

However while priestly celibacy is a tradition going back around 1,000 years, it is not considered dogma, or an unchangeable piece of Church teaching.

There has been pressure for change, particularly in the wake of recent sexual abuse scandals with proponents of optional celibacy in the Church arguing that sexual frustrations could drive some priests to sexually abuse children.

But the Church has rejected this argument, saying that paedophilia, whether in the Church or outside of it, is carried out by people with psychological problems.

Priests are allowed to marry in the Anglican and other Protestant churches as well as in the Orthodox Church.