In view of the final document taking a clear second place to Querida Amazonia, did this therefore mean that Pope Francis had closed the door to the possibility of married priests?
To this question, Cardinal Baldisseri referred to Cardinal Czerny whom he called a “specialist in this case.”
Cardinal Czerny’s response was instructive — essentially, “No.”
“The best way to understand this is part of a process and part of a journey,” he said. “That’s why it’s called a synod, and we’re at a very important point in the synodal process. There’s a long road ahead as well as road already travelled, so the questions you are returning to are questions of the road, and the Holy Father has not resolved them in any way beyond what he said in the exhortation.”
He added: “If there are questions which you feel are open or which the Church feels are open thanks to the exhortation, they will continue to be debated, discussed, discerned, prayed over, and when mature presented to the appropriate authority the decision.”
The cardinal then appeared to answer Magister’s earlier question about whether this matter could end up being resolved at the level of a bishops’ conference.
“These are decisions that can be made in a diocese, in a conference, and decisions made here,” Cardinal Czerny said, “so if you’re looking for a kind of closure so you can write an article with a punch, I’m afraid there isn’t that kind of closure.”
