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	Brazilian Priests Ask Pope to Remove Celibacy Requirement AGI February 21, 2008 http://www.agi.it/world/news/200802211103-cro-ren0016-art.html Brazilian priests have spoken directly to Pope Benedict XVI to ask him for a revision of the canonical law obliging celibacy for those carrying out priestly functions. The decision appeared in the final document of the 12th National Meeting of Priests, which ended on Tuesday in the Itaici monastery in the Indaiatuba municipality (in the state of Sao Paulo). Therequest will be sent to the Holy Congregation for the Clergy under the direction of Claudio Hummes, former archbishop of Sao Paulo and previously one of the potential candidates for the role of pope in the conclave in which the German Cardial Joseph Ratzinger was elected. It was the Brazilian priest himself, a close friend of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who said immediately after taking on his new role, that celibacy by priests "is not a dogma" and that the decline in the vocation could induce the Church to "reflect on the matter". In the document sent to Rome two types of priesthood are requested: one requiring a vow of celibacy, for those who make the vow as part of their religious orders and congregations, and one in which celibacy is no longer mandatory. The request is also made for priests to be able to ordain spouses considered worthy of the priesthood, and that that those who left the latter to raise a family can be brought back into it. As reported by the Spanish daily El Pais, quoting a bishop who did not want his identity revealed, married laymen have long been ordained in Brazil. "Rome is aware of the fact, but does not want it to be made public." Brazilian priests have also asked for the appointing of priests to be made more democratic, and for those who have divorced to have a right to the sacraments as well.
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