By Ayo Kehinde with BBC Reports
Ahead of a few months for Pope Francis to speak on celibacy following a favourable Synod held by South American Bishops in October last year, Retired Pope Benedict XVI has thrown spanner in the wheels, setting the stage for a possible clash between him and his successor.
Celibacy is an age-old tradition in Roman Catholicism, which prevents priests from marriage and rearing children because it is believed marital affairs would hinder their devotion to God.
Reports say Pope Benedict who retired in 2013 and vowed to remain in seclusion and maintain silence on church matters made the appeal against abolishing the age-old tradition of celibacy in a new book he co-authored with Cardinal Robert Sarah.
The Bishops at Synod in the Amazon region had canvassed a rethink to make room for the ordination of old, married men to fill vacancies caused by scarcity of priests there.
At the Synod to discuss the future of the Church in the Amazon, a communiqué was issued in which suggestions were made that older, married men in the remote parts of Southern America, should be ordained priests to take care in the shortfall of priest there.
Pope Benedict, who retired in 2013, said he could not remain silent on the issue.
In the book, Pope Benedict says celibacy, a centuries-old tradition within the Church, has “great significance” because it allows priests to focus on their duties.
The 92-year-old says “it doesn’t seem possible to realise both vocations [priesthood and marriage] simultaneously”.
The Vatican is yet to respond to the campaign. But Vatican commentators are said to have reacted with surprise to Benedict’s intervention, suggesting it breaks with convention.
“Benedict XVI is really not breaking his silence because he (and his entourage) never felt bound to that promise. But this is a serious breach,” Massimo Faggoli, a historian and theologian at Villanova University is quoted in a tweet. Others, like a journalist with the National Catholic Reporter, Joshua McEwen, reportedly described it as “incredible”.
Pope Benedict, a conservative has been making comments and granting interviews on views that are opposed to those of Pope Francis who is seen as more progressive.
Celibacy is said to be under favourable consideration by Pope Francis along with many other proposals, including the environment and the role of women in the Church.
