Epigraph: Then We caused Our Messengers to follow in their footsteps; and We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow them, and We gave him the Gospel. And We placed in the hearts of those who accepted him compassion and mercy. But monasticism which they invented for themselves — We did not prescribe it for them — for the seeking of Allah’s pleasure; but they did not observe it with due observance. Yet We gave those of them who believed their due reward, but many of them are rebellious. (Al Quran 57:28)
Sistine Chapel
Source: The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post | By Dominique Mosbergen Posted: 03/20/2013 12:08 pm EDT | Updated: 03/20/2013 4:14 pm EDT
In a 2012 interview with then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio may give the public a glimpse into the new pope’s position on celibacy and pedophilia.
According to a transcript obtained by Catholic news website Aleteia.org, Bergoglio — now Pope Francis — chatted with Rabbi Abraham Skorka, rector of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary, last year about his views on celibacy among priests and his hardline stance against child sex abuse.
“When I was a seminarian, I was dazzled by a girl I met at an uncle’s wedding. I was surprised by her beauty, her intellectual brilliance… and, well, I was bowled over for quite a while,” Bergoglio told Skorka, adding that despite the temptation, he eventually chose to stay on the “religious path.”
As for celibacy among priests, Bergoglio said that he — “for the moment” — was “in favor of maintaining celibacy, with all its pros and cons, because we have ten centuries of good experiences rather than failures.”
However, Bergoglio went on to offer a hypothetical alternative.
“If, hypothetically, Western Catholicism were to review the issue of celibacy, I think it would do so for cultural reasons, not so much as a universal option,” he said.
In a report for the National Catholic Reporter this week, Jesuit priest Father Thomas Reese argued that while the then-cardinal appeared to take celibacy “very seriously,” based on his language, Bergoglio also seemed open to change.
Sistine Chapel ceiling
Categories: Catholicism