(LifeSiteNews) — A Belgian bishop has announced his plan to start ordaining married men to the priesthood by 2028.
Bishop Johan Bonny of the Diocese of Antwerp, Belgium, published a pastoral letter on March 20 in which he outlined the practical implementation of the “Synod on Synodality” in his diocese.
Addressing the issue of the low number of vocations, he said that “the question is no longer whether the Church can ordain married men as priests, but when it will do so, and who will do it.”
“It is an illusion to think that a serious synodal-missionary process in the West still has a chance without also ordaining married men as priests,” he stated.
“There is a historical shortage of local priests in many dioceses. The number of unmarried men who want to become priests has fallen to just above zero,” Bonny wrote.
The Belgian bishop said that he would “make every effort to ordain married men as priests for our diocese by 2028.”
“I will approach them personally and ensure that by then they have the necessary theological training and pastoral experience, comparable to that of other priest candidates. This preparation will be transparent but discreet, away from the media spotlight,” he added.
Bonny stressed that he intends to spend the next two years preparing for these ordinations with the Holy See and the Belgian bishops’ conference claiming that for, him and many other bishops, “the ordination of married men has become a matter of conscience. At that level, too, transparency, accountability, and evaluation are important for the credibility of the Church.”
According to The Pillar, the move appears intended to pressure Pope Leo XIV to allow the ordination of married priests in the Latin Rite.
“Almost all dioceses work nowadays with a number of married Catholic priests, to everyone’s joy and appreciation,” Bonny stated in his letter. “Some of these priests, as in our diocese, belong to an Eastern Catholic Church … Some were trained at our interdiocesan seminary in Leuven, together with the other seminarians. They celebrate the sacraments in both their rite and our rite.”
“Other married priests are converts; they were bishops, priests, or ministers in other Christian traditions, converted to Catholicism, and were able to receive Catholic priestly ordination as married converts,” he added. “No one can explain any longer why the ordination of married men is possible for Eastern Catholic seminarians or for Catholic converts, but not for native Catholic vocations.”
He also attempted to use the clerical abuse crisis as justification for his controversial plan, stating that the “issue of sexual abuse continues to weigh heavily. Clerical subcultures and lifestyles have had their day.”
“Trust in the Church and its ministers has been severely diminished as a result,” he added.
Bonny showed that he would not stop at breaking with Church discipline, tradition, and Canon Law by ordaining married men, but that he would also like to ordain women, which would violate Catholic doctrine.
He described the report from the Synod on Synodality on female ordination, which ultimately rejected the female diaconate, as “painful.” The Belgian prelate stated that “the arguments used are theologically weak and anthropologically outdated. They have lost their persuasive power. They seem contrary to what the Spirit is saying to the churches today.”
He claimed that, “There is room for diversity within the sacrament of ordination. Stating that there is no place at all for women in the matrix of this complex sacrament seems a judgment made prematurely.”
“If it is true that women do not have a right to the ordained ministry, just as men do not, the ordained ministry has a right to women,” Bonny said.
While he did not directly say that he would attempt to ordain women, the bishop said he would “take further steps in the development of an ecclesial ministry that is equally accessible to men and women, and that gives them an equal share in both the pastoral and administrative service of the Church.”
Bonny is known for his opposition to Traditional Catholic teaching, having been a long-standing supporter of same-sex blessings and LGBT advocacy within the Church. In 2023, he also contradicted Church teaching on assisted suicide, claiming that euthanasia could be morally acceptable under certain conditions.