Pope calls meeting to discuss priests' celibacy rule

Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI has asked top Vatican officials to discuss the Church's celibacy rule for priests who wish to marry in a meeting scheduled for Thursday. In a statement, the Vatican said the meeting would also consider requests by married priests who want to be readmitted to the ministry. Officials will be asked to examine the implications of the 'disobedience' of Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, the breakaway Zambian archbishop who was excommunicated by the pope in September after ordaining four married men as bishops in the United States, the statement said. Milingo, a renowned healer and exorcist, had shocked the Vatican over the summer by fleeing to the US to rejoin his wife and champion the cause of married priests. The Vatican stressed that Thursday's meeting was not open to a general debate on the celibacy requirement and would only consider 'requests for dispensation of the celibacy obligation' made by priests who wish to marry and 'requests for readmission to the priestly ministry by priests who married in recent years.' © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Pope calls meeting to discuss priests' celibacy rule

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