The recommendation, put forward by Latin American bishops last year, had alarmed conservatives in the deeply polarized 1.3 billion-member Roman Catholic Church, who feared that it could lead to a change in the centuries-old commitment to celibacy among priests.
Francis delivered his response in an Apostolic Exhortation three months after the proposal was made at a contentious assembly of Roman Catholic bishops, or synod, at the Vatican.Apostolic Exhortations are teaching documents used to encourage the Catholic faithful but do not define Church doctrine.