BERLIN (Reuters) - A married father of two was ordained as a priest by the Catholic Church in Germany on Tuesday after receiving an exemption to priestly celibacy from Pope Benedict XVI.
Harm Klueting, a theologian and former Protestant pastor, will not have to adhere to the Church’s celibacy law for the duration of his marriage, the diocese of Cologne said.
The case sheds light on a little-known 60-year-old Roman Catholic church law that allows ordained clergy from other Christian faiths to become priests.
“This happens seldom but it’s not unusual,” diocese spokesman Christoph Heckeley said, adding that it is more usual in Scandinavia.
Newly ordained Bishops, background center, lie in front of the altar during a ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011. Pope Benedict XVI insisted Saturday on his exclusive right to ordain bishops as he consecrated a Chinese prelate in an implicit challenge to attempts by China's official church to ordain bishops without his approval. (AP-Yonhap News)
The 61-year-old converted to Catholicism in 2004 after which he served as a deacon and taught religious history at universities in Germany and Switzerland. He currently teaches at the University of Cologne where he will also serve as a priest.
Last year a married father of four was ordained as a priest in Regensburg, southern Germany.
Klueting’s ordination comes as theologians and Catholic politicians in Germany have pressured the Vatican to end priestly celibacy and the German church struggles to overcome a wave of clerical sex abuse scandals and a priest shortages.
The Roman Catholic Church also launched its first ordinariate for disaffected Anglicans in England and Wales this year, which will see it take in bishops, priests and laity.
Five traditionalist Church of England bishops have applied to join the ordinariate, a Church subdivision retaining some Anglican traditions, and about 30 groups of parishioners are due to cross over, Church leaders told journalists.
It was not clear how many priests would convert in the move, prompted by traditionalist opposition to Church of England plans to ordain women bishops. Married Anglican priests will be accepted but married bishops cannot retain their higher status. The ordinariate, announced by Pope Benedict in 2009, allows those Anglicans opposed to women bishops, gay clergy and same-sex blessings to convert to Rome while keeping many of their traditions.
<관련 한글 기사>
기혼 남성 신부 서품 받아
"교황 특별 허가로 결혼생활도 유지"
(베를린=연합뉴스) 루터교 목사 출신으로 수년 전 가톨릭으로 개종한 독일의 한 기혼 남성이 22일 신부 서품을 받았다.
쾰른 교구는 하름 크뤼팅(61) 씨가 쾰른 신학교에서 열린 비공개 의식을 통해 사제 서품을 받았다면서 교황 베네딕토 16세는 그가 이미 2004년 가톨릭 카르멜회 수녀가 된 부인 에델트라우트 크뤼팅 씨와 결혼생활도 유지할 수 있도록 허가했다고 밝혔다.
교황청 대변인인 페데리코 롬바르디 신부는 이같은 특례 조치가 드문 것이지만 과거 비슷한 사례도 있었다고 말했다.
쾰른 교구는 성명을 통해 1950년 교황 비오 12세가 가톨릭으로 개종했던 사제들에게 결혼생활을 유지할 수 있도록 허용한 적이 있다면서 하지만 이런 경우 개별 사안마다 교황의 승인을 얻어야 한다고 설명했다. 이런 조치를 통해 과거 함부르크와 레겐스부르크에서 기혼자의 사제 서품이 이뤄졌다.
루터교인이었던 크뤼팅 씨 부부는 1977년 결혼해 둘 다 루터교 사제로 봉직했으며 수년 전 가톨릭으로 개종했다. 둘 사이에는 장성한 두 자녀가 있다.
쾰른 교구는 또 두 사람이 결혼 생활을 유지하는 한 독신 서약을 할 필요가 없다고 설명했다.
크뤼팅 씨는 현재 쾰른 대학의 역사신학 교수이며 스위스 프리부르 대학에서도 가톨릭 신학을 가르치고 있다.
(연합 뉴스)
