The mainstream media is all atwitter made by Pope Francis’s incoming secretary of state about the possibility of eliminating clerical celibacy.
Is this a sign of things to come?
Is this yet another indication of Pope Francis “breaking with tradition”?
Is this an indication the mind of Pope Francis himself?
Is it a major new development?
Or is it just the press hyperventilating because they have no idea what they’re talking about?
Here are 9 things to know and share . . .
1) Who made the remarks?
That would be Archbishop Pietro Parolin, who is set to replace Cardinal Tarciscio Berone as the head of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.
He currently lives in Caracas, Venezuela, where he has been serving as papal nuncio (ambassador) to Venezuela.
More info on him here.
2) Where did he make his remarks?
He make his comments in an interview with the Venezuelan paper El Universal.
Apparently, it was an interview in anticipation of his leaving his role as the apostolic nuncio and going back to Rome to become Secretary of State.
Here’s a link to the full interview on video, in Spanish.
3) What did he actually say?
Apparently, in his discussion with the interviewer, the following exchange occurred:
Aren’t there two types of dogmas? Aren’t there unmovable dogmas that were instituted by Jesus and then there are those that came afterwards, during the course of the church’s history, created by men and therefore susceptible to change?
Certainly. There are dogmas that are defined and untouchable.
Celibacy is not —
It is not a church dogma and it can be discussed because it is a church tradition.
That’s what set the secular media off into paroxysms—the statement that the discipline “can be discussed.”
4) Did he say anything else on the question?
