Pope calls Curia to discuss married priests, Archbishop Milingo
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --- Pope Benedict XVI this week convened top Vatican officials to discuss the case of excommunicated Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and the status of married priests around the world. The Vatican press office said the pope asked heads of major Roman Curia agencies to meet with him Nov. 16 to examine the situation created by the "disobedience" of Archbishop Milingo, who recently ordained four married men as bishops without papal permission.

The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said he did not expect the discussions to consider major changes in the priestly celibacy rule. A Vatican statement said the meeting would reflect on requests made by married priests in recent years for dispensation from the obligation of celibacy and on requests for readmission to the priestly ministry.

When ordained, Catholic priests in the Latin church make a promise of celibacy. In Eastern-rite Catholic churches, married men may become priests, but are not allowed to marry after ordination.

The Vatican encounter comes less than two weeks after Archbishop Milingo wrote an open letter to the pope, calling for immediate steps to accept married priests in the Catholic Church in order to end what he said was the church's "dire straits because of the shortage of priests." In his letter, Archbishop Milingo said there were an estimated 150,000 married priests worldwide "who are ready and willing to serve."

The issue of priestly celibacy and the potential role of married priests came up at the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist in late 2005. Several bishops at the synod asked for discussion of the possibility of ordaining married men to respond to priest shortages around the world. But the synod ended up strongly affirming the value of priestly celibacy and made no recommendations for any change. The pope is expected to publish a document on the synod sometime soon.

Archbishop denies asylum request from Oaxaca protest leaders
MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church has denied asylum for leaders of a protest movement that has shaken the southern state of Oaxaca for five months. Oaxaca Archbishop Jose Chavez Botello said Nov. 11 that the church did not have the means or the resources to protect the activists, whose central demand is the resignation of the state's governor. "Ensuring the physical safety of these people is the responsibility of the government," Archbishop Chavez said. The movement's leaders say they are the targets of persecution by state authorities. Fearful for their lives, five prominent members spent several nights in Oaxaca City's cathedral in early November before officially asking for the church's protection. While denying the activists' requests for asylum, Archbishop Chavez pledged the church would remain neutral. "The church will never take sides in the conflict," he said. "(We have) worked to bring the principal actors together, to help relieve the tension and achieve steps toward a peaceful solution."

Pope says countries should ratify documents protecting refugees
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI encouraged countries to ratify international documents aimed at protecting the rights of migrants, refugees and families and said the church should work to protect them from "hardships and humiliations." In his message for the annual World Day for Migrants and Refugees, the pope used the example of the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt as a model of "the painful condition in which all migrants live, especially refugees, exiles, evacuees, internally displaced persons, those who are persecuted." The text for the pope's 2007 message, titled "The Migrant Family," was released during a Nov. 14 press conference at the Vatican.

U.S. needs Mary's help, says priest at Mass at national shrine
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The United States needs Mary's intercession to protect it from terrorism and the threat of war, but it also needs her help "at a time when the moral fabric of American society is threatened," said the homilist at a Nov. 11 Mass in Washington sponsored by the World Apostolate of Fatima. With a rising rate of divorce and cohabitation, the push for same-sex marriage, the breakdown of the family, an acceptance of abortion and assisted suicide, and the "total disregard" for the sanctity of life, the U.S. is "in need of great help," said Father Friar of the Renewal Andrew Apostoli, during Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.