Benedict insists priests must remain celibate

POPE BENEDICT reaffirmed the Roman Catholic rule of priestly celibacy yesterday, rejecting suggestions that the way to confront the shortage of priests was to allow them to marry.

Speaking at the first canonisation ceremony of his six-month pontificate, he also expressed solidarity with the church in China.

The new saints proclaimed at an open-air mass in Peter’s Square included two Italians, a Chilean and two Poles.

In his homily, the Pope pulled no punches on the issue of priestly celibacy, one of the main themes of a three-week synod that closed with yesterday’s mass. “The celibacy that priests received as a precious gift and the sign of the undivided love toward God and neighbour is founded upon the Eucharistic Mystery, celebrated and adored,” he told the crowd of tens of thousands of people.

The shortage of priests to serve the 1.1 billion-member church dominated the synod, whose more than 250 participants drafted proposals for the Pope on a number of church matters.

Liberals such as the We Are Church dissident group have said the long-term solution to the shortage was making celibacy optional for new priests by allowing them to marry.

Some bishops suggested the Church ordain “viri probati,” the Latin term for older, married men with families who are known to lead exemplary personal and have a solid background in church doctrine.

In his homily, the Pope also sent “a fraternal greeting” to the church in China, saying its suffering would not be in vain.

“With deep sadness we felt the lack of their representatives,” Benedict said, referring to the four bishops who were prevented from attending the synod.

“I would like to assure all the Chinese prelates that we are close with prayer to them and to their priests and their faithful,” he said. “The suffering path of the communities, entrusted to their pastoral care, is present in our hearts. This will not remain fruitless.”

China refuses to allow the Vatican to appoint bishops, saying this would be interference in its internal affairs, and it refuses to allow Catholics to recognise the authority of the Pope.

Instead, they must belong to the state-backed Catholic Patriotic Association.

The Vatican estimates it has about eight million followers in China who worship in the “underground church”, compared with five million who follow the state-backed association.

The five new saints were Jozef Bilczewski (1860-1923), a Polish archbishop; Gaetano Catanoso (1879-1963), an Italian priest who dedicated his life to helping the poor; Zygmunt Gorazdowski (1845-1920), a Polish priest who worked in Ukraine; Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga (1901-1952), a Chilean priest who helped the poor, and Felice Da Nicosia (1715-1787), an Italian monk who had a reputation for holiness.