Pope Francis is fielding a formal request from 26 women to let their boyfriends — who serve as priests — be freed from their vows of celibacy.
The women have co-signed a letter to him, asking bluntly for the permission to have sex with the men, Mediaite reported.
“Each of us is living, has lived or want to live a loving relationship with a priest,” stated the letter, penned in Italian by the Italian women and reported by Mediaite. But this is a “devastating situation,” and it’s hard when they can’t be intimate, they said.
The women also say that if these priests were allowed to be intimate, it would only fuel their devotion to their church service “with greater momentum,” because then they would be fired up even more by a wife and children, the letter stated.
This isn’t the first time the pope’s fielded requests to overturn the celibacy requirement. A German priest asked for the same — after he admitted he fathered a child.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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