Pope Francis is making the first steps towards allowing married men to become priests in the Amazon jungle.

The pontiff has asked for a debate on whether to partially lift the ban on married men being ordained after a request by Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the president of the Episcopal Commission for the Amazon, who said there was a shortage of priests willing to work there, according to the Telegraph.

A discussion and possible vote by Brazilian bishops will question whether to allow so-called viri probati – married men of great faith – to minister in the Amazon where evangelical Christians and pagan sects are displacing Catholicism due to a lack of ministers, according to sources quoted in Il Messaggero newspaper. In some areas of the Amazon region, there is just one priest for every 10,000 Catholics.

The Cardinal's request was backed by Monsignor Erwin Krautler, the secretary of the Episcopal Commission, who Pope Francis told to 'speak to the bishops and tell them to make valid proposals', according to the Austrian KNA news agency.

It comes after the pontiff said earlier this year the Church should consider permitting married men to become priests in some special circumstances. 'We must consider if viri probati is a possibility. Then we must determine what tasks they can perform, for example, in remote communities,' he told German newspaper Die Zeit.

There are already a small number of married Catholic priests such as Anglican ministers who defected to Rome and some Coptic Catholics and members of Eastern Catholic Churches.

The Pope's backing for more married men to become priests in areas of shortage does not detract from his preference that priests be unmarried and celibate. But he said it was an issue of discipline not of church dogma, meaning it is open for discussion.