Ending the discipline of clerical celibacy would not cause a rise in vocations, the prefect of the Dicastery for Clergy told an Irish audience.
Speaking at the Marian shrine at Knock, Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik observed that if allowing priests to marry would resolve the shortage of priests, the Orthodox churches should be abounding with priestly vocations. “But we have to look at the reality,” the Korean-born prelate said.
The only real way to stimulate vocations to the priesthood and religious life is a lively faith, Cardinal You argued. “I am convinced that if we as Christians lived the Word of God concretely, we would have a flourishing of vocations.”