Pope Francis decides not to allow married men to become priests

Pope Francis urges bishops to be "more generous in encouraging those who demonstrate a missionary vocation to opt for the Amazon region"

Pope Francis rejected a proposal to allow married men to be ordained priests in the Amazon region, marking one of the most significant decisions of his papacy.

The proposal was put forward by Latin American bishops in 2019 to combat the shortage of Catholic priests in the region.

But in an "apostolic exhortation" focused on environmental damage to the Amazon, he eluded the proposal and instead asked the bishops to pray for more "priestly vocations".

The pope also urged the bishops to be "more generous in encouraging those who demonstrate a missionary vocation to opt for the Amazon region".

In 2017, Pope Francis raised the prospect of revoking the celibacy rule to allow for the ordination of married men as the lack of Catholic priests saw the decline of the Church's influence in the Amazon region.

But the traditionalists were alarmed that the move could ruin the church and change the centuries-old commitment to celibacy among priests.