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A Belgian bishop said he intends to start ordaining married men to priesthood by 2028, in a move seemingly intended at pressuring Pope Leo XIV on the issue.

Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp speaks to the press in September 2023. Credit: Nicolas Maeterlinck / Belga Photo.

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Bishop Johan Bonny of the Diocese of Antwerp published March 20 a document outlining the application of the synod on synodality in his diocese. In it, he said that “the question is no longer whether the Church can ordain married men as priests, but when it will do so, and who will do it.”

“It is an illusion to think that a serious synodal-missionary process in the West still has a chance without also ordaining married men as priests,” he added in his letter.

Bonny said in the letter that while foreign priests help in filling shortages in many dioceses and “enrich our church life with a healthy dose of universality and catholicity,” they “come to help us, not to replace us. Moreover, it would not be fair to place the burden of our shortages on their shoulders.”

“There is a historical shortage of local priests in many dioceses. The number of unmarried men who want to become

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