BREAKING NEWS – Rome, Italy – The Vatican is considering ordaining married men in the Amazon region to help counter a shortage of priests in a part of the world where some estimates say there are only one for every 10,000 Catholics. The proposal intended for remote areas of the Amazon in South America emerged in a working document released by the Vatican for an October meeting between the continent’s bishops. “While affirming that celibacy is a gift for the Church, there have been requests that, for the most remote areas of the region, [the Church] studies the possibility of conferring priestly ordination on elderly men, preferably indigenous, respected and accepted members of their communities,” the document said, according to Reuters. The document also stated, “That considering the type of person that the average priest is attracted to, it will be a mandate that their husbands must be Catholic, and at least 12 years old.”
