Vienna archbishop backs women’s leadership and end to mandatory celibacy
Archbishop Josef Grünwidl succeeded Cardinal Christoph Schönborn in the Archdiocese of Vienna in January.
APA / Alamy
Archbishop Josef Grünwidl said many women are already involved not just in pastoral ministry, education and schools but also in leadership: ‘I myself have appointed women to the bishop’s council – one of the most important committees.’
The Archbishop of Vienna said the office of general secretary of the Austrian bishops’ conference should be open to baptised laypeople.
Under current statutes the office – currently vacant – must be held by a priest or bishop, but Archbishop Josef Grünwidl said he hoped to see this requirement lifted soon.
“We will change this, but it won’t happen so fast, as this change of statutes has to be approved by Rome,” he told ORF radio’s Ö1Mittagsjounal programme last week.
He observed that many women are already involved not only in pastoral ministry, education and schools but also in positions of leadership: “I myself have appointed women to the bishop’s council … one of the most important committees.”
The next step, he said, was “the ordination of women [which] I would like to see too”, but that decision would need to be made at the universal level by a Church Council, and at present that is not a realistic possibility.
However, Grünwidl suggested changes regarding the mandatory celibacy of secular priests was more likely, as he observed interest from speaking to other bishops and in the strategy of new episcopal appointments.
Celibacy is merely a regulation in canon law which “has nothing to do with our faith, with the truths of faith and dogmas”, he said, calling for those who want change to collaborate so they can be heard more in Rome.
He said it is unlikely that he would be made a cardinal, because he expected Pope Leo to continue Pope Francis’ policy: “Europe is no longer as important for the global Church as it once was … we are more and more becoming a world Church and this should be visible in the College of Cardinals.”
Discussing the integration of migrants, Grünwidl criticised the very low quota for family reunions for refugees living in Austria announced by the Austrian government on 30 October.
“Tearing apart families” is not conducive to integration, he argued, while families are easier to integrate that individuals – “and the right to a family life is a human right”.
Education and dialogue are important for successful integration, and it should be possible “to focus on what we have in common”. He said he worries that in society “the ability to reach consensus … is crumbling”.
No comments:
Post a Comment