Pope Francis Urges New Ways After Amazon Region Bishops Call for Married Priests
The Associated Press reports that Pope Francis encouraged the church to “open new roads for the proclamation of the Gospel.” His remarks on Sunday came after South American bishops proposed allowing married men to be ordained as priests in the remote Amazon region, which would break with the Catholic Church’s tradition of clerical celibacy. The AP reports that the pope has said he will respond to the proposal by the end of the year. “He also cautioned against self-righteousness, in an apparent slap at conservative critics who fear he is weakening the church’s foundations,” the AP writes.