Forty years ago, Pope Benedict signed a joint
statement suggesting that the church consider modifying the laws on
celibacy, reports the Irish Times.
In 1970, Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) and eight other leading
theologians signed a memorandum proposing that, to address the shortage
of priests, the Catholic Church "quite simply has a responsibility to
take up certain modifications" on celibacy.
The document was revealed in the magazine Pipeline, which is critical of the Church.
Extracts were reprinted by Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
Other signatories include Walter Kasper and Karl Lehmann, now senior
German cardinals, then acting in a consulting capacity to a commission
for questions of faith and morals in the German Bishops' Conference.
The memorandum states "all
its authors" are of the opinion the celibacy rule requires "examination
at the highest levels" in the church.
"Our considerations regard the necessity of a serious investigation
and a differentiated inspection of the law of celibacy of the Latin
church for Germany and the whole of the universal church," it says.
While celibacy was at the core of the priesthood, the document warned
that if the church did not investigate the celibacy issue it would
"create the impression that it did not believe in the strength of the
Gospel recommendation of a celibate life for the sake of heaven, but
rather only in the power of a formal authority".