Hal,
I am amused that the title of the article is, “Pope Considers Lifting Celibacy Rule,” even though the third paragraph says, “The Vatican stressed the meeting would not open a general discussion of the celibacy requirement.” Whoops.
I doubt that the Catholic Church will make any changes to the vow of celibacy for utilitarian (shortage of priests) or political (pressure from Milingo’s fringe group) reasons. The discussion will seem to center on priests that left the Church, married, and want to return to ministry.
The debate is likely related to the dispensation granted to married Protestant ministers who convert to Catholicism. If a married Protestant minister wishes to become a Catholic priest, the Vatican will occasionally permit it. So, there are a few married Catholic priests (in full communion with the Church) out there. Milingo may try to argue that there is no distinction between dispensations granted to Protestant converts and his merry band of hubbies.
Overall, I am not surprised that Pope Benedict will initiate a dialogue about this. It is a theological issue and Benedict is a first-rate theologian.
