Catholic priests in Brazil, a country with one of the worst clergy shortages in the world, have drafted a petition asking the Vatican to consider lifting mandatory priestly celibacy.

The request is one of four proposed changes drawn up at the twelfth biennial National Priests' Meeting held last week in Itaici in São Paulo state. The "proposals" are now being reviewed by priest councils in all of Brazil's 269 dioceses, and Brazilian news reports said the final text could be sent to Rome as early as next week, although conflicting reports said it had already been sent.

In the current wording of the text, which The Tablet obtained from a Brazilian church source, the priests ask the Congregation of the Clergy to "make possible other forms of ordained ministry that would not be just the celibate presbyterate". In a second proposal they ask the Congregation "for clearer and more defined guidelines" to help them minister to divorced and remarried Catholics.

The authenticity of the as yet unpublished text was corroborated by Fr Francisco dos Santos, newly elected president of Brazil's National Priests' Commission (CNP), in an interview with Vatican Radio's Brazilian service. The priest stressed that the first proposal to the Congregation to the Clergy was "not against celibacy" but was merely a plea for the Vatican to approve "other forms of ordained ministry". The CNP is the office of the Brazilian Bishops' Conference (CNBB) that represents Brazil's 18,600 priests.

In the text The Tablet received, the Brazilian priests also ask the Congregation for Bishops for a "more transparent, democratic and participatory" process of choosing diocesan bishops, including consultation with "priests, dioceses and regions of the CNBB".

Finally, in a fourth proposal, the priests urge the Congregation for Saints to "examine the processes of beatification and canonisation of Brazilian priests and bishops that have been a great inspiration for life and the ministerial priesthood".

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