Catholic Bishops in the amazon region on Saturday approved a proposal allowing some married men to be ordained as priests in the Amazon region.

Its approval was passed by an overwhelming vote of 128-41 and applies only to some churches in the Amazon region that are experiencing a shortage of priests. Regions including: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

The proposal must now be approved by Pope Francis, to bring a historic change to the catholic church’s centuries-old tradition celibacy for ordained priests.


The proposal is known as “viri probati,” refers to older Catholic men, who have stable families, are respected in their communities and are already ordained as deacons in the church.

Viri probati will allow already married men to become priests but, will not allow already ordained priests to marry. Therefore, the change would not affect the rule of celibacy for Catholic priests, who are not allowed to marry.