The proposal was in a working document released Monday for an October meeting of South American bishops on the Amazon.
The document, prepared by the Vatican based on input from the region, affirmed that celibacy is a gift for the church. But it suggested officials study "the possibility of priestly ordination for older men, preferably indigenous and respected and accepted by their communities, even if they have stable families, for the region's most remote areas."
Pope Francis, history's first Latin American pope, has focused attention on the sacramental and environmental plight of Amazonian communities.