Belgian bishop renews push to ordain married men to priesthood

A Belgian bishop has renewed his push to ordain married men as priests in his diocese by 2028, despite no public Vatican authorization for the proposal.

In an interview in the October issue of Herder Korrespondenz , Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp said he traveled to Rome in June to present the matter to the Dicastery for the Clergy and the General Secretariat of the Synod.

Bonny linked a possible arrangement to the Synod on Synodality’s implementation phase. “I trust that an appropriate arrangement can be found by the end of the synodal process in the fall of 2028,” Bonny said according to CNA Deutsch , the German-language sister service of EWTN News. “It would be a fatal blow to the credibility and implementation of the entire synodal process if no arrangement were reached by then.”

Bonny first outlined his plans in March . He also participated in the German Synodal Way as an observer.

At the German bishops’ plenary assembly in 2022, Bonny said that “Rome must learn to live with a healthy dose of Germanic culture.” He referred to an open style of consultation and discussion, not the ordination of married men; the address was also released as a podcast .

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