Catholic Cardinal Says Priests Should be Allowed to Marry

Married priests is not a new idea. Priests and Popes were married back in time. What is new is that it is being brought up in a part of the denomination that has money. And, the source of the money has the political figure prints of government.

A Cardinal in Germany says he is not opposed to celibacy but thinks it should not be a universal requirement of the denomination. He thinks some priests simply need the support and companionship of a wife and children and would be happier people with it. This makes perfect sense.

Discussion of gay priests and gay weddings is also in play in Germany. Why Germany? It is a very wealthy branch of the Catholic denomination. Also, it receives much of its money from government. Government gives taxpayers the option of a including a donation when they pay their taxes. The amounts collected are turned over to the denomination. If the country's taxpayers are liberal voters and expect gay people to be treated as equals, they would expect the same from money collected in their tax paying exercise and given to churches. So it's in German church authorities' interests to team up with the country politically. 

My guess it when German Catholic officials look at German politics, they see no opposition to married priests. They may see, as I do, that the public thinks celibacy is a quite peculiar practice. It's almost bizarre in fact. Since Catholic churches in German are increasingly empty is all the more reason to let go of odd notions.

Pope Francis himself has said married priests are not a violation of Catholic law. I could see Europe simply no longer requiring celibacy and simply carrying on. It could be handled like so many issues in the world Catholic church, just ignored and never mentioned again. That is the direction we see with the gay issue. 

While we often associate making money with conservative politics, Germany is an example of the opposite. The same thing is happening with in Texas where a pharmacist was fired because she would not fill prescriptions for birth control. Back in the days of segregation, privately owned bus companies resisted the requirement black passengers sit in the back of the bus. It put a burden on the bus company's drivers to enforce the law cutting into their profits. 

Private businesses, including the church, sometimes see opportunity in causes considered liberal. The German cardinal wants practice good business.