Days After Abolishing “Monsignor” Honor For Priests, Pope Abolishes “Priest” Honor For Seminarians

VATICAN––Days after abolishing the title of “monsignor,” Pope Francis has now reportedly eliminated the practice of granting seminarians the title of “priest,” a Vatican insider told EOTT this morning from Rome. According to a report Sunday by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, only single laymen over the age of 65 will from now on be eligible to receive the title of priest. “The title of priest is primarily honorific, and should normally only be granted to laymen as a reward for service to the church, such as having been an usher for more than four decades,” Apostolic Nuncio to the United States Giovanni Martinelli told EOTT. “Or it should be given as a sign of a unique function a layman has performed in the church, such as being the guy who selects which family will walk the gifts up to the altar.” The title was once granted by a bishop on the recommendation of God. But many have criticized the practice, saying that ordination naturally leads to an “air of careerism in the church.” According to Martinelli, every nuncio across the globe has been asked to write to bishops within their territories to inform them of the pope’s decision and to say that those who have already been given the title of priest can keep it; for now.