Children of the ordained is a term the
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum
The Holy See
* The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
uses to describe the offspring of ordained
Catholic priests
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...
who have taken a vow of
clerical celibacy
Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because the ...
. The children are a "result of affairs involving priests and laywomen or nuns – others of abuse or rape".
Not many of these children are known, but the most famous is probably Vincent Doyle, who has started a support group, Coping International.
In 2009, the Vatican under
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
and
Cardinal Cláudio Hummes composed guidelines for the children of priests. The official name of the document is ''"Congregazione per il Clero a proposito dei chierici con prole"'' (Notes concerning the practice of the Congregation for the Clergy with regard to clerics with children). The
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
reported on the guidelines' existence in 2019. The guidelines were considered as a "secret".
In 2020, the Congregation for Clergy released the guidelines to Vincent Doyle. They include two exceptions which allows priests to remain in the Catholic priesthood, having fathered a child, and openly acknowledged their child.
See also
*
List of children of clergy
List of noted children of clergy is a list of notable persons concerned with individuals whose status as a child of a cleric is important, preferably critical, to their fame or significance.
Western religions
Christian
Pre-Schism
* Saint Patric ...
References
External links
Coping International
Clerical celibacy
Catholicism-related controversies
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