Vatican edits pastoral plan

MEXICO CITY -- A Mexican bishop is bucking Vatican orders to erase a phrase in his pastoral plan that notes the desire among many Catholics that married permanent deacons be ordained priests. The phrase simply reports the feelings of many indigenous Catholics, said Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel of San Cristobal de Las Casas in Mexico's Chiapas state.

The phrase remains in the pastoral plan "because the faithful have the right to be heard by their pastors. To listen is not the same as to approve," he said, in a Jan. 24 statement. Arizmendi said he does not support a married priesthood.

A Sept. 26 letter signed by Cardinal Francis Arinze, head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, complained that the diocese had not eliminated the phrase nor made changes in its program for training permanent deacons.

The Vatican suspended the diaconate program in 2002 and no permanent deacons have been ordained since 2001. Arizmendi has been trying to get Vatican officials to reinstate the training program.

COPYRIGHT 2007 National Catholic Reporter
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning