Pope Francis says he is open to the possibility of permitting married men to become priests to address the serious shortage of Catholic priests in some countries.

The pope raised the idea in an interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit.

He ruled out the prospect of allowing single men who are already priests to marry, but was open to the idea of allowing unmarried laymen or men already married to be ordained.

The pope raised the prospect in the context of allowing "viri probati," Latin for "tested men," to be ordained in places with a scarcity of priests.