Vatican: The Pope has announced that there is to be no change in the Catholic Church's rule on mandatory celibacy for its priests.
The issue was prominent among those discussed at the three-week synod of bishops which concluded in Rome yesterday.
Speaking at Mass in St Peter's Square yesterday, Pope Benedict announced that the (approximately) 1,000-year rule would not change as "the celibacy that priests received as a precious gift and the sign of the undivided love towards God and neighbour is founded upon the eucharistic mystery, celebrated and adored."
The shortage of priests particularly exercised bishops from Central and South America, with some suggesting that the church ordain viri probati - older, married men with families known to lead exemplary lives in their communities and who have a solid background in church doctrine.
The liberal Catholic group We Are Church yesterday expressed its gratitude to the bishops who had asked for viri probati to be ordained.
The same bishops had also been "courageous enough to ask for the admission of remarried divorced couples to the sacraments ...", and that "sadly the questions of women's role in the church and of lay people do not seem to have been items on the agenda". It expressed "regret" at "the lack of courage of the bishops' synod."
Pope Benedict was speaking yesterday as he presided at his first canonisation rite since being elected Pope last April.
The five new saints are Archbishop Jozef Bilczewski (1860-1923), a Polish archbishop who worked in Ukraine; Fr Zygmunt Gorazdowski (1845-1920), a Polish priest who also worked in Ukraine; Fr Gaetano Catanoso (1879-1963), an Italian priest who was dedicated to the poor; Fr 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.