DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Extra.ie [Dublin, Ireland]
April 27, 2025
By Valerie Hanley
The next pontiff must continue the ‘revolution’ started by Pope Francis, a group of Irish priests seeking reform of the Catholic Church said this weekend.
And this should include open debate about the ‘Aposibility of women being ordained and discussions around celibacy, according to the Association of Catholic Priests, formed by Irish clerics eager to see reforms first proposed by the Vatican Council more than 60 years ago.
Speaking about reforms that began under Francis, a founding member of the association, Fr Brendan Hoban, told Extra.ie: ‘Up to Pope Francis coming, bishops couldn’t discuss whether priests should be celibate, whether or not you should have a married clergy or whether women could be ordained.
‘These “red button” issues were never discussed and priests got into bother if they wrote about it.
‘Francis has changed all that completely. He has said: “I want you to say what you think and to give your opinion because the Holy Spirit works through you by virtue of your baptism as well as through priests, as well as through the Pope and through bishops.” That’s a complete revolution, and that is what we’ve become used to for the past 12 years since he was Pope.
‘When Francis came, he opened the door completely… I’m not saying there are going to be women ordained next year, [but] whoever the Pope is going to be will have to make decisions on these sorts of things.’
Fr Hoban said there is ‘a huge fear’ of a split within the Church, ‘that a schism will happen’. And he warned: ‘It happened in the past, where you have two different Churches representing Catholicism.’
These comments were echoed by clerical abuse survivor and campaigner Marie Collins, who said a moderating new Pope is needed to save the Catholic Church from itself.
She told Extra.ie: ‘They need someone who will be a moderator and who will heal the rift between conservatives and liberals. Someone needs to come in to continue the reforms Pope Francis has begun and, if possible, bring the Church back together. Infighting in any institution is not good.’
Ms Collins – who was abused by a cleric while a patient at the Crumlin Children’s Hospital in Dublin in the 1960s – also called on Pope Francis ‘ successor to immediately defrock convicted paedophile priests.