Antwerp Bishop Johan Bonny has said he would like to ordain married men to enrich the pastoral service the Church can offer.Bishop Bonny said he thought most other Belgian bishops would also welcome such a reform.
But he added, in an Easter interview with the Brussels daily De Standaard, ordaining women would be more difficult, because that posed theological problems instead of just the juridical issue that married male clergy present.
Belgian Catholics would probably accept women's ordination, Bishop Bonny said, but "this is a difficult issue worldwide".
However he said he supported celibacy as a prophetic sign "especially in a consumer society like ours, where sexuality is sometimes trivialised".