BERLIN, February 22 (AP): In a rare move that needed the pope’s approval, a Lutheran convert was ordained Tuesday as a Catholic priest in Germany and is being allowed to remain married to his wife - who has already become a nun.
Harm Klueting, 61, was ordained by Archbishop Joachim Cardinal Meisner in a private ceremony at the city’s seminary, the Cologne archdiocese said. Pope Benedict XVI gave Klueting a special permission to remain married to his wife Edeltraut Klueting, who became a Catholic Carmelite nun in 2004. The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican’s chief spokesman, said the exception is rare but there have been similar cases. “It doesn’t happen every day,” he said. Klueting and his wife were Lutherans when they married in 1977 and both served as Lutheran clerics before converting to Catholicism several years ago. They have two grown children.
The Cologne archdiocese said in a statement that the couple would not have to take the traditional vow of celibacy as long as they remain married - a highly unusual move since celibacy is normally a key requirement for Catholic priests.
Harm Klueting, 61, was ordained by Archbishop Joachim Cardinal Meisner in a private ceremony at the city’s seminary, the Cologne archdiocese said. Pope Benedict XVI gave Klueting a special permission to remain married to his wife Edeltraut Klueting, who became a Catholic Carmelite nun in 2004. The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican’s chief spokesman, said the exception is rare but there have been similar cases. “It doesn’t happen every day,” he said. Klueting and his wife were Lutherans when they married in 1977 and both served as Lutheran clerics before converting to Catholicism several years ago. They have two grown children.
The Cologne archdiocese said in a statement that the couple would not have to take the traditional vow of celibacy as long as they remain married - a highly unusual move since celibacy is normally a key requirement for Catholic priests.
