Pope Benedict XVI has sharply condemned a group of dissident Austrian priests and laymen for questioning key teachings of the Catholic Church. The group, known as the Pfarrer Initiative, has challenged the church on topics such as priestly celibacy and its ban on female priests. Speaking during a Maundy Thursday mass in the Vatican, the […]
A majority of Austrian Catholic priests want celibacy to be abolished, a survey has revealed.Researchers from Kepler University in the Upper Austrian city of Linz said today (Weds) 59 per cent of the clergy they spoke to said they backed the idea of putting an end to the ruling. Study leaders said they interviewed 406 […]
Vienna Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn said today (Mon) he shared the concern of Eisenstadt Bishop Paul Ibys concern about mandatory celibacy for Roman Catholic priests.”The concern that Bishop Iby expressed is shared by all of us (Austrian bishops), and I am happy to be in a Church in which there is freedom of speech and […]