Pope's Exhortation on Amazon Synod to Come Out Next Week

The Synod of Bishops on the Amazon was a meeting of bishops and advisors, convened at the Vatican Oct. 6-27, 2019, to discuss ecological, political, and pastoral issues for the Church in the Amazon region, which spans across nine countries in South America.

Pope Francis announced he would write a follow-up document on the Amazon region in his closing remarks to the synod Oct. 26.

A draft version of the papal exhortation has been circulated inside Vatican departments to receive feedback.

In this draft, which was leaked last week, a section on viri probati said “the competent authority should establish criteria and provisions to ordain” married men to the priesthood.

The leaked text is substantially identical to article 111 of the final document of the Amazon synod, which calls for the ordination of married men as priests.

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Sources familiar with the feedback being offered on the draft text told CNA that something similar to the process for ordaining married Anglican clergy coming into communion with Rome is being suggested in the case of the Amazon.

In the case of married Anglican clergy coming into communion with Rome, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was given the job of vetting candidates, and approving them for ordination, on a one-by-one, case-by-case, basis.

Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.