In some isolated South American communities, Catholics can go for weeks or months without attending Mass or participating in the sacrament of confession due to a shortage of priests.
The historic ordainment shift, proposed in a Vatican document published today, could also see the start of an “official ministry” for women in the area.
The document said officials should study “the possibility of priestly ordination for older men, preferably indigenous and respected and accepted by their communities, even if they have stable families, for the region’s most remote areas.”
Pope Francis, the first ever Latin America pontiff, has previously focused attention on the sacramental and environmental plight of Amazonian communities.
In an interview with a German newspaper in 2017, he said he was willing to consider ordaining “viri probati” – Latin for men of proven character – as priests in isolated communities.
But he ruled out a general opening of the priesthood to all married men.
The Vatican has previously opened debate on letting married men be ordained as priests in remote parts of the Amazon.
The tradition of celibacy has been a tradition since the 11th century, imposed in part to spare the church the financial burdens of providing for large families and to ensure that any assets of the priest would pass to the church.
Opponents to ordaining married men say easing the rule for the Amazon will fuel calls for it to be relaxed elsewhere.
Currently, married men can be ordained in the Eastern rite Catholic Church and married men who convert from Protestant churches can be Catholic priests.
The document additionally called for the synod to identify “the type of official ministry that can be conferred on women”, adding that women must be guaranteed leadership roles.
