PORTUGAL
Christian Today
Following the news that 26 women, each of whom declared herself in love with a Catholic priest, signed a letter to Pope Francis begging him to relax rules on celibacy, it transpires that Portuguese clergy are taking matters into their own hands.
According to the BBC more than 400 practising priests in Portugal have recently left their vocation in the Church, many because they want to get married, which is currently against Catholic teaching.
Fernando Felix Ferreira, a former priest, told Portuguese TVI 24 that “the number of priests requesting exemption has been increasing”.
Ferreira himself applied for dispensation from the Church in 2000; a lengthy process that took a year and a half to complete. Many priests, “some young, and some not-so-young” according to Ferreira, however, are now refusing to adhere to this formality and are instead choosing to “simply abandon the ministry”.
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