KINSHASA (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO)
La Croix International [France]
April 6, 2022
By Lucie Sarr
In the run-up to the July papal visit, Catholic bishops in the DR-Congo have urged priests who have fathered children to seek laicization and care for their families
Since the beginning of this year nearly a dozen Catholic priests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been dismissed from the clerical state for reasons that have never been made clear.
The press releases announcing the dismissals have attracted attention precisely because of their evasiveness.
In the most recent one, at the end of March, the Diocese of Tshumbe in the center of the country said it had dismissed three priests without giving a reason.
Inquiries were met with a wall of silence.
Now it has been revealed that the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) recently issued a 19-page internal document, dated March 4, that asks priests who have fathered children to give up their priesthood to take care of their children.
An official internal document
The document, called “At the School of Jesus Christ: for an authentic priestly life”, aims to “break the silence” on this painful issue.
The bishops, who reviewed the text during their March plenary assembly, have not yet made the document public outside of clerical circles.
The Congolese bishops express sorrow in the text, “noting” that priests “do not lead an authentic priestly life”.
They emphasize “the incompatibility of the responsibility of fatherhood with ministry and priestly life in the Roman Catholic system”, and insist on the need for these priests to adopt “a responsible behavior towards children born of a woman and a priest”.
They urge priests to “take complete care of them and to request a dispensation from priestly obligations from the Holy Father”.
In the event that the priest in question is not willing to do so, the document asks the bishop to “present the case to the Holy See for the maximum penalty of dismissal from the clerical state”.
Associations for children of priests
The Congolese bishops point out that in many countries in the world there are associations for children of priests.
They “aim to bring out of anonymity and help psychologically the many people born of a relationship between a woman and a priest”.
The bishops insist that it is now time to do justice to the women and children who are victims of these situations and are forced to live in hiding.
“They ask for recognition and accompaniment,” the bishops say in their document.
These children are considered “fruits of sin” in Congolese society.
“Urging and persuading is no longer enough, these attitudes make it difficult to correct the guilty and they sow confusion and scandal among the faithful,” the document insists.
This is why “the priest who fathers children needs both mercy and reproof from the Church”.
Celibacy and chastity
The Congolese bishops also extol the virtues of celibacy and believe that “many priests” live their priestly commitments faithfully, offering a witness that edifies the people of God.
But they note that celibacy is challenged by several factors, including “the inclination or instinctual drives that must be educated”.
They acknowledge that there is also “the sexual freedom movement that is becoming globalized and does not leave the Church untouched”, as well as the “cultural weight in certain environments, which does not know any prohibitions on the sexual level and which requires cleansing”.
Finally, the bishops say part of the blame is due to “material poverty or destitution that do not encourage the practice of virtues”.
Connected to the pope’s trip?
The new internal document was sent to all priests in the 48 dioceses of DR-Congo on March 4, just one day after it was officially announced that Pope Francis would be visiting the country from July 2-5.
Was the timing just a coincidence? One thing is certain: since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has made the fight against all sorts of abuse in the Church one of his major battles.
While he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, he already expressed himself on the issue in a book interview with Rabbi Abraham Skorka, entitled On Heaven and Earth.
“If a priest comes to me and says that he has got a woman pregnant, I gradually help him understand that natural law takes precedence over his rights as a priest,” he explained.
“As a result, he has to leave the ministry and take responsibility for the child, even if he decides not to marry the woman,” the future pope said. “Because if he has the right to have a mother, the child also has the right to have a father with a face.”