Eucharist ‘must not be linked to celibacy rule’

Brazilian bishops will propose that married men be allowed to celebrate the Eucharist, Bishop Erwin Kräutler of Xingu in Brazil told the Austrian daily Die Presse on a visit to his native Austria, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

“Every Catholic has a right to the Eucharist,” Bishop Kräutler said. At his private audience with the Pope in April (see The Church in the World, 12 April) they had discussed the shortage of priests and he had suggested to the Pope that the conditions for the priesthood be changed. “Celibacy need not be obligatory for celebrating the Eucharist. One suggestion will be to decouple celibacy from the Eucharist. Making its celebration dependent on a celibate priest is something I will no longer play along with.”