Four Kachin bishops have met Myanmar’s military chief Min Aung Hlaing to talk prospects for peace in the country’s north, where fighting between the military and armed ethnic groups has intensified. Retired Abp Paul Zinghtung Grawng of Mandalay and Bishops Philip Lasap Za Hawng of Lashio, Francis Daw Tang of Myitkyina and Raymond Sumlut Gam of Banmaw attended a meeting at Bayintnaung Parlor in Naypyidaw on Jan. 16.

For one hour and 45 minutes, the bishops and Min Aung Hlaing discussed the situation in Kachin and Shan states, where intense fighting has erupted in recent months between ethnic armed groups and Myanmar’s military.

Since late last year, the military has conducted an offensive using airstrikes and heavy artillery, resulting in thousands of internally displaced persons fleeing their camps.

“We conveyed the message on the Catholic Church’s stance of getting a durable peace through dialogue instead of arms, and the church stands ready to take part in nation building in collabora-tion with all stakeholders,” he told ucanews.com.

Bishop Gam said the military chief reaffirmed its commitment to ending civil wars in Myanmar while opening the door to all armed ethnic groups to negotiate.

Since the situation deteriora-ted in 2011, more than 100,000 people have been displaced. Most of the state’s 1.7 million Kachins are Christians, including 116,000 Catholics.

The idea of exceptionally ordaining older married men of proven virtue to celebrate the Eucharist in isolated Catholic commu-nities is something that should be discussed, said Cardinal Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy.

“It is not about being in favour of or against something, but about attentively evaluating various possibilities without being closed or rigid,” the cardinal said in a new book in Italian, “Tutti gli Uomini di Fran-cesco” (“All Francis’ Men”) released Jan. 22 by Edizioni San Paolo.

The book, by Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, includes interviews with churchmen named to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis.

Francis was asked by the German news-paper Die Zeit last year about whether, in the Latin-rite church, he could see allowing married “viri probati” — men of proven virtue — to become priests.

“We have to study whether ‘viri probati’ are a possibility. We then also need to determine which tasks they could take on, such as in remote communities, for example,” Francis said.

The issue is expected to come up in the 2019 special gathering of the Synod of Bishops to study questions related to the church’s pastoral work in the Amazon. Already at Synods in 1990 on the priesthood and 2005 on the Eucharist some bishops — especially from Brazil’s Amazon region — suggested ordaining married men as the only way to ensure Catholics in isolated villages could receive the Eucharist regularly.

One possibility to explore is the exceptional ordination of older married men in remote communities, he said. “Continuing to maintain their family and jobs and receiving a formation contextualized for their environment, they could offer part-time service to the community they come from in order to guarantee the sacraments, especially by presiding at the eucharistic celebration.”

Love was literally in the air as Pope Francis performed an impromptu wedding ceremony at 36,000 feet aboard his flight in Chile.

During his flight to Iquique Jan. 18, the Pope was approached by LatAm flight steward Carlos Ciuffardi Elorriaga and asked for a blessing for him and his wife, stewardess Paula Podest Ruiz.

The couple were supposed to be married in their home parish in Santiago February 27, 2010. However, tragedy struck when an earthquake destroyed the church. Eight years later, they remained only civilly married.

Ciuffardi told journalists aboard the flight that, after he explained their story, he asked the Pope for their blessing.

At that moment, the Pope surprised the couple with offering to marry them right there on the plane.

Ciuffardi said the Pope asked the couple, “Well, do you want to get married?”

“I said, ‘Well, yes. Are you sure?’ Then the Pope said, “Are YOU sure?’ I told him, ‘Yes! Let’s get married,’” Ciuffardi recalled excitedly.