Viri probati

Viri probati ( Latin for "good men") are married men who, because of their accordance with the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church exemplary life for the service of the deacon recommended and therefore as married men as deacons ordained to be. They serve in the Church as permanent deacons .

The term Viri probati is usually only used in relation to the whole group and therefore in the plural (in the singular it would be Vir probatus ).

history

In the course of the 2nd century the spiritual office, which was hierarchically organized in three levels, developed in the early church: deacon, presbyter and bishop . As the presbyters took over the celebration of the Eucharist and the leadership of the congregations, the deacons of the congregations gradually became assistants to the priests . They were no longer directly subordinate to the local bishop. In the course of time, from around the 9th century onwards, the diaconate in the Roman Catholic Church withered into a mere transitory stage.

After the diaconate was only considered a preliminary step to the priesthood for centuries, the Second Vatican Council revived the old tradition of admitting married men to the diaconate. After early church tradition these men promise at the consecration, among others, after the eventual death of their wife not to marry, but celibate to live. Such a promise of celibacy can also be dispensed with , especially if there are still smaller children to be brought up.

Discussion about the admission of permanent deacons to priestly ordination

In the past - as was the case with the Würzburg Synod - voices within the church were repeatedly heard to allow Viri probati to be ordained priests . Various standpoints are opposed to one another on this question: On the one hand, the shortage of priests in some parts of the world, on the other hand, the Church's salvation concern. The bishops also play a special role, because they are obliged to “develop models for ensuring the healing ministry” (compare: Würzberg Synod: The pastoral services in the community 5.4.6 (Syn. DG 5.4.6)).

Pope Francis said in an interview in 2017 that he wanted to think about the question of whether Viri probati will in future be ordained priests under certain conditions and what tasks they could take on in the Church. At the same time, the Pope turned against the suggestion that celibacy should be left to the free decision of the candidate. Karl Cardinal Lehmann then said that, in his opinion, the question of viri probati "never really came to rest". The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference , Reinhard Cardinal Marx , stated that one had to “think about the pastoral dimension.” However, a decision could only be made on a universal church level and one had to consider the consequences.

One of the proposals of the 45-page working document of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Amazon - New Paths for the Church and a Holistic Ecology ("Amazon Synod "), which was published on June 17, 2019, is to consider the possibility of older men being ordained priests admit, preferably indigenous people who are respected and accepted by the community, even if they already have an orderly and sustainable family. The Synod finally recommended in No. 111 of the Concluding Document relating to the Amazon region that the Church should

“... create criteria and prerequisites for ordaining suitable men recognized by the community to priests. They should have a fruitful diaconate and priesthood training and they should be able to maintain a legitimate and stable family. In this way they should sustain the life of the Christian community through the proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the sacraments in the remotest areas of the Amazon ”

and concluded with the recommendation made by some bishops that this topic should also be dealt with on a global church level. The explicit mentioning and designation as Viri probati is avoided in the document.

literature

Florian Huber: Don't just see the bucket. The ordination of viri probati: a solution to the shortage of priests? In: Thanks to Reinhold Stecher. Innsbruck, Vienna 2002.
Peter Krämer: Viri probati . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 10 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2001.
Rudolf Fischer-Wollpert, Do you know ?, Lexicon of religious and ideological questions , (Section: Viri probati , page 646/647) Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 1982, ISBN 3-7917-0738-8