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Luc Terlinden's stance is not new within the Church in Belgium. In fact, in a document issued during the 2023 Synod on Synodality, the Belgian bishops already expressed their willingness to discuss the possibility of ordaining married men.
The Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels has expressed his support for married priests in the Catholic Church . “For me, married priests would be an enrichment for the Church,” Luc Terlinden stated in an interview with the Nederlands Dagblad .
The Belgian pastor pointed out that this is already happening in the Eastern Catholic Churches . “I spoke with a Greek Catholic bishop who told me that 90% of his priests are married. In the West, we don't always show enough respect for this Eastern tradition, which is also Catholic,” he added in the interview.
However, the archbishop did not want to set deadlines, unlike the Bishop of Antwerp, Johan Bonny, who last March announced in a pastoral letter his intention to do everything possible to ordain married men as priests in his diocese by 2028 .
"He cannot do so without the Pope's permission."
“ The position of the Bishop of Antwerp is his own initiative , but, of course, he cannot ordain married priests without the Pope’s permission,” the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels told the aforementioned media outlet, according to Katholisch .
The question of ordaining married men to the priesthood is not new within the Church in Belgium. In fact, in a document issued during the 2023 Synod on Synodality, the Belgian bishops already expressed their willingness to discuss the possibility of ordaining married men as priests.