A US archbishop has called on the Catholic Church to allow married priests of Eastern rites to preach in the West, after Rome accepted married Anglican priests who converted to Catholicism.

The Vatican has been adamant that married priests of Eastern rites should not work in the West.

Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros, head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in the United States which accepts the Pope's authority, told a news conference his congregation wanted these dispositions to be changed.

"The incorporation in the Catholic Church of married Anglican priests has created a new situation," he said.

A papal decree, or motu proprio allows Anglicans unhappy about their Church's stance on homosexuality and the ordination of women to join the Roman Catholic Church, thereby accepting that married priests pursue their work.

On Tuesday Lebanese Maronite Bishop Guy-Paul Noujaim had told the press that priests' marriage had contributed to keeping Christian churches alive in Muslim-dominated Iraq.

During the current bishops' meeting in Rome which opened on October 10 and concludes tomorrow with a papal mass, several leading Church figures have defended the possibility for Eastern priests to marry.