Pope praises families of married Eastern Catholic priests

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The families of Eastern-rite Catholic priests give an important witness to what is healthy and wonderful about family life, Pope Francis said.

Speaking to laypeople, clergy and religious of the Slovak Catholic Church – a Byzantine-rite church that has maintained its tradition of ordaining both celibate and married men – the Pope said, “the families of priests live a unique mission today.”

“When the very model of the family is called into question, if not attacked outright, you offer a healthy and exemplary testimony of life,” he said in his talk on October 6.

The Pope encouraged the small Slovak Catholic Church, which also has a diocese in Canada – the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius of Toronto – to safeguard its Byzantine tradition, “which I, too, came to know and love when I was younger.”

“Rediscover it and live it to the full just as the Second Vatican Council taught,” he said.

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