Siam Spencer, edited by Mélanie Faure 07:14, February 18, 2022

Vatican City hosts the start of a symposium on the priesthood.

This Friday is the third day of colloquium in the presence of the Pope to speak, in particular, of the celibacy of priests.

A rule in force that is more and more debated.

Europe 1 interviewed Father Jean-Eudes Fresneau, parish priest of the village of Sarzeau in Morbihan.

An international symposium on the priesthood, the function of priest, opened Thursday at the Vatican, in the presence of the Pope.

Three days of theological reflections... Among the many themes, the celibacy of priests will be evoked while more and more influential voices of the Church are openly questioning this rule.

Father Jean-Eudes Fresneau, parish priest of the Sarzeau commune, in Morbihan, considers that maintaining the obligation of celibacy is in a way a refusal to live with the times.

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"If we maintain celibacy today in the Latin Church, for me, it is because of what is called traditionalism which does not want to finally dialogue with the world, which wants to remain on a myth and a nostalgia of the past", estimated Father Jean-Eudes Fresneau at the microphone of Europe 1. "The Latin Catholic Church, of which I am a part, must reconsider its discipline, because it is now necessary to propose a vocation of priest for our new millennium. We are in the Middle Ages, we must not be afraid of the truth. We must try to understand others and then also listen to what today's society says.

A vocational crisis?

But for Monseigneur Didier Berthet, bishop of Saint-Dié, in the Vosges, repealing compulsory celibacy is not the solution to attract new candidates.

"I believe that we should not dream, if one day we allow married men to be priests, it will not fill the seminaries as we could dream of", he believes for his part.

"This world, it is behind us. If we consider that this commitment, of all ready to celibacy, is no longer relevant: it must finally be done for much more positive reasons."

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Namely, "so that perhaps certain priests may be happier in the development of a conjugal life" or for spiritual reasons: "Human love, lived in faithful covenant, can also be inspiring and nourishing for the pastoral charity of a priest".

Still, if Pope Francis leaves room for debate on the issue, the divide is indeed present.