- Title: ITALY: MARRIED PRIESTS' SYNOD CALLS ON VATICAN TO REPEAL LAW ON MARRIAGE.
- Date: 1st September 1985
- Summary: ROME, ITALY AUGUST 31, 1985 (REUTERS - GUENTHER HILLENBRAND) SV Joseph Buko with his wife Ann, speaking (ENGLISH SOT) TRANSCRIPT: (SEQUENCE ONE): BUKO: "We look for the future and the fact that we have a de facto married priesthood throughout the world is a reality that the Vatican may choose to ignore but God's people choose to accept it, and we applaud that." GV INTERIOR Hall in Hotel Columbus, Rome SVs Bishop Jeronimo Podesta seated with wife and other delegates listening to married priest and journalist Giovanni Gennari (3 shots) SV & CU Gennari speaking and seated next to his oldest living married priest Giustino Zampani, Honorary President of meeting (3 shots) SV Jeronimo Podesta speaking (ITALIAN SOT) (NO TRANSCRIPT) CC/BB
- Embargoed: 16th September 1985 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ROME, ITALY
- City:
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Religion,Religion
- Reuters ID: LVA8TEQSN7YD4Z9SN7HXWNQ3C3YW
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: A synod of married priests has called on the Vatican to repeal the Catholic dogma which bars priests from marriage. The week-long conference, attended by 111 delegates from several countries, presented a document to the Vatican -- which has ignored the synod -- saying that matrimony is compatible with religious vocations, a statement implicitly contrasting the vows of celibacy which Catholic priests and nuns are required to make. Organisers of the synod say that more than 70,000 of the world's 400,000 priests are married, either formally or in secret. They are said to include 19,000 in the USA alone. Several women attended the conference which decided to set up a permanent secretariat and support fund. Jeronimo Podesta, a former Argentine bishop who chaired the synod, told newsmen that there were other Catholic bishops who wished to re-examine the dogma of priestly celibacy but who had not made their opinions public. Joseph Buko, a married priest from the USA, said that the synod was looking forward and that the Vatican may choose to ignore the situation, but "God's people" choose to accept it. The Vatican, which has only rarely issued dispensations acknowledging a priest's marriage, has declined to comment on the figures supplied by the synod's organisers.
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