Vatican Lifts Ban On Ordination Of Married Priests - For Eastern Catholics In Diaspora

The Vatican has lifted its ban on the ordination of married men to the
priesthood in Eastern Catholic churches outside their traditional
territories, including in the United States, Canada and Australia.

Pope Francis approved lifting the ban, also doing away with the
provision that, in exceptional cases, Eastern Catholic bishops in the
diaspora could receive Vatican approval to ordain married men. In
recent years, however, some Eastern Catholic bishops went ahead with
such ordinations discreetly without Vatican approval.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern
Churches, signed the decree June 14. It was published later online in
the ActaApostolicaeSedis, the official periodical through which
Vatican laws and decisions are published.

The new law says the pope concedes to Eastern Catholic bishops outside
their traditional territory the faculties to "allow pastoral service
of Eastern married clergy" and "to ordain Eastern married candidates"
in their eparchies or dioceses, although they must inform the local
Latin-rite bishop in writing "in order to have his opinion and any
relevant information."

"We are overjoyed with the lifting of the ban," Melkite Bishop
Nicholas Samra of Newton, Mass., told Catholic News Service in a Nov.
15 email..

The Vatican decree explained that in response to the "protests" of the
Latin-rite bishops in the United States, in 1890 the Congregation for
the Evangelization of Peoples prohibited married Ruthenian priests
from living in the United States. And in 1929-30, the Congregation for
Eastern Churches extended the ban to all Eastern-rite priests
throughout North America, South America and Australia.

The 1929 prohibition, known as Cum data fuerit, had significant
repercussions for the Eastern Catholic churches in the United States.
Sandri's decree noted that soon after the law was promulgated, "an
estimated 200,000 Ruthenian faithful became Orthodox."

Ruthenian Bishop John Kudrick of Parma, Ohio, said Nov. 16 that he
sees the end to impose celibacy for Eastern priests in the diaspora as
an acknowledgement of the Eastern churches' "obligation to maintain
their integrity" and "of the right of the various churches to equal
responsibility of evangelization throughout the world."
--TheLeaderNewsOnline