Vatican may make exception to allow married priests--in the remote Amazon

This idea has been in the works for well over a year, but news broke yesterday that Catholic Bishops are backing the ordination of married priests in the Amazon.  Here's an excerpt from Jason Horowitz's story for the New York Times:

It is the first time a grouping of bishops convened by a pope has endorsed such a historic change to the tradition of a celibate priesthood. The proposal is limited to remote areas of South America where there is a scarcity of priests but could set a precedent for easing the restriction on married priests throughout the world. 

If Francis, who has already signaled an openness on the issue, accepts the bishops’ recommendation, he will turn the remote areas of the Amazon region into a laboratory for a Catholic Church looking to the global south for its future, with married priests and indigenous rites mixing with traditional liturgy.

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Liberal supporters said the change would address the unmet needs of a far-flung community and they expressed hope it would lead to similar changes elsewhere.

I've written a lot on these pages about the challenges of service delivery in remote locales, so this is an interesting development on that front--to change the rules regarding who can serve when so desperate for personnel. 

On the other hand, the bishops were not desperate enough to let women serve in the region: 

Francis said in remarks to the bishops after Saturday evening’s vote that the Vatican would continue to study the role of women in the early years of the church.

“We still haven’t grasped the significance of women in the Church,” he said. “Their role must go well beyond questions of function.”