The Rev. James Martin, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, and is the culture editor of America, the national Catholic magazine. Father Martin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of[…]
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The Catholic Church will be “a different color” in 40 years. And there will likely be female priests.
Question: What will the Catholic Church look like in 2050?
James Martin: We’ll probably see a black pope, at some point. I would say certainly within our lifetime. We’ll probably see married priests. I’m pretty sure about that. We already have them in the Catholic Church. I think... surprising as it may be for people, I think we’ll probably see women priests. I think the church will probably change on that as well. It’s hard to say though. You know one of the great heads of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits was once asked you know, “Where is the Society of Jesus going?” And he says, "I have no idea." You know so the church is really led by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit does what the Holy Spirit wants to do, so it could be totally different than what I expect and probably will be.
Recorded March 24th, 2010
Interviewed by Jessica Liebman
James Martin: We’ll probably see a black pope, at some point. I would say certainly within our lifetime. We’ll probably see married priests. I’m pretty sure about that. We already have them in the Catholic Church. I think... surprising as it may be for people, I think we’ll probably see women priests. I think the church will probably change on that as well. It’s hard to say though. You know one of the great heads of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits was once asked you know, “Where is the Society of Jesus going?” And he says, "I have no idea." You know so the church is really led by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit does what the Holy Spirit wants to do, so it could be totally different than what I expect and probably will be.
Recorded March 24th, 2010
Interviewed by Jessica Liebman
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