Editing Presbyterorum Ordinis

{{Short description|Catholic Decree}}
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'''''Presbyterorum ordinis''''', subtitled the "Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests", is one of the documents produced by the [[Second Vatican Council]]. On 7 December 1965, the document was promulgated by [[Pope Paul VI]], after an approval vote of 2,390 to 4 among the assembled bishops. The title means "Order of Priests" in [[Latin (language)|Latin]]. As is customary for such documents in the [[Catholic Church]], it is taken from the first line of the decree (its [[incipit]]).

==History==
Agitation among the Council Fathers for a separate and distinct conciliar decree on the priesthood began in the second session of the council (1963), in the course of the discussions about the drafts concerning the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (''[[Lumen gentium]]'').<ref>[http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/presbyterorum-ordinis Bruskewitz, Fabian. "Priesthood Is the 'Nerve Center of the Church’s Whole Life and Mission'", ''National Catholic Reporter'', October 27, 2015]</ref> ''Presbyterorum ordinis'' has come to be one of the defining documents on the role and duties of the priesthood in the modern era.<ref>[https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/publications/presbyterorum-ordinis-the-ministry-and-life-of-priests "''Presbyterorum Ordinis''", Berkley Center, Georgetown University]</ref>

==Reception==
The period that followed the promulgation of ''Presbyterorum ordinis'' was marked by a severe drop in the number of priestly vocations in the Western World. Church leaders argued age-old [[secularization]] was to blame and that it was not directly related to the documents of the council. Historians also pointed to the damage caused in 1968, by the [[sexual revolution]], and the strong backlash over ''[[Humanae vitae]]''. Yet, other authors{{who|date=December 2018}} asserted the drop in vocations was at least partly deliberate as part of an attempt to de-clericalize the Church and allow for a more pluralistic clergy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cozzens |first=Donald B. |year=2000 |title=The Changing Face of the Priesthood|url=https://archive.org/details/changingfaceof00cozz |url-access=registration }}</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2018}} In 1995, according to the Congregation for the Clergy, in recent years, "despite various persistent difficulties, there is a positive quantitative and qualitative recovery which makes one hope for a priestly second spring."<ref>[http://www.annussacerdotalis.org/clerus/dati/1998-12/13-6/International_Symposium.rtf.html  Congregation for the Clergy. "Priesthood: a greater love", International Symposium on the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Promulgation of the Conciliar Decree, ''Presbyterorum Ordinis'', October 1995]</ref> 

There was a related exodus from the priesthood, which began under Paul VI and continued during the papacy of John Paul II. In 2007, "La Civilta Cattolica" reported 69,063 priests left the ministry between 1964 and 2004; 11,213 later returned.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091201081855/http://www.indiancatholic.in/news/storydetails.php/12367-1-4-Laicizing-priests-now-easier-for-clergy-congregation Laicizing priests now easier for clergy congregation]</ref>

In November 2015 [[Pope Francis]] addressed a conference sponsored by the Congregation for the Clergy marking the fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of the Vatican II decree ''Presbyterorum ordinis''. He told delegates attending the conference, "The good that priests can do comes primarily from their proximity to&nbsp;– and a tender love for&nbsp;– their people. They are not philanthropists or functionaries, but fathers and brothers. ...Even priests have a biography, and are not 'mushrooms' which sprout up suddenly at the Cathedral on their day of ordination."<ref>[http://www.catholicireland.net/priesthood-treated-job-pope/ MacDonald, Sarah. "'Priesthood must not be treated as a job': Pope", ''Catholic Ireland'', November 21, 2015]</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Catholicism}}
* ''[[Pastores dabo vobis]]''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651207_presbyterorum-ordinis_en.html Full text in Englishat the Vatican website.]

{{Second Vatican Council}}

[[Category:1965 documents]]
[[Category:1965 in Christianity]]
[[Category:Documents of the Second Vatican Council]]
[[Category:Catholic priesthood]]