The annual number of candidates for the diocesan priesthood in England and Wales has now fallen below forty, and is expected to remain there for some time.

What will happen next? asks the Catholic Herald.

Th answer is plain for all too see. There will be increased calls for a married priesthood and for women priests. Church establishments everywhere are incapable of analysing – and correcting – their own failures, and quick to suggest panaceas in line with current secular tastes and prejudices.

The fact that parishes will be increasingly dependent on priests from the third world will not aid them in their self-criticism.