Clerical celibacy is something that is defined by the code of Canon law, which is the kind of thing that the Pope has direct jurisdiction over. So once he is elected Pope and receives the sacrament of ordination to be made a Bishop, he can either change the law or give himself a dispensation from that particular canon.
It wouldn’t even be considered that scandalous if he did so, there is an established process for Anglican clergy to be ordained in the Latin rite even when they are already married, when they convert to Catholicism, and married Catholic clergy exist in the eastern Catholic Churches as well.
It is not a permanent church law that priests can’t be married. It is merely a rule they are enforcing at the moment. Any time they want to, they could change the rule. (Unlike something like female clergy, which the Pope has said is against permanent canon law.)
I have an acquaintance whose grandfather was a priest. He converted to Catholicism after getting married and then became a priest. So married priests can happen, it’s just not common.
It did always make me do a double take to hear “Father and Mrs So-and-so…”
Interesting and likely not impossible. My parents were part of a Catholic Church that the LA Archdiocese stopped supporting. The pastor of the community worked with the participants (including my mom) and discovered that if a church is abandoned by its diocese they can elect priests from among their community and ordain them… married or not. So the pastor ordained two men who had families and they carried on the community for about another 15-20 years. They were both married, legally ordained Catholic priests.
They won’t be able to take the position. A lay person can be elected as a pope, but the pope can’t be a lay person. As leader of the Catholic clergy, the pope can’t be married but he can be widowed, morbidly enough.
I heard the prohibition against marriage was so the church could keep accumulating wealth and not have it passed onto the priests’ families on the death of the priests.
It was a cash grab dressed up as a “spiritual calling” to celibacy. Happened in the 12th century.
Unintended consequence was giving generations of gay men a place to hide in plain sight in their communities and not be questioned when they weren’t married off and making babies by their late teens.
And families a way to be proud of having a son serve the “lord” instead of being scandalized by having a queer in the family.
So yeah
And here we are centuries later in all this psychosexual bullshit the Catholic church created in their greed but yea, they blame the sexual revolution of the 60’s and 70’s and increasing secularism for their problems with pedophilia.
Thus say the unmarried celibate men who wear dresses and call them selves priests
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“Honey, I’m leaving you to become the leader of the catholic church…”
Even if elected, he would have to be ordained as a priest (with all that includes) before becoming Pope.
Then you’d have a married Bishop of Rome. The first Bishops / Apostles were married men so it’s not strictly a prohibitive condition.
Historically if a dude gets elected pope he can do whatever he wants. He can give himself a divorce, keep the wife, or anything else he wants.
Clerical celibacy is something that is defined by the code of Canon law, which is the kind of thing that the Pope has direct jurisdiction over. So once he is elected Pope and receives the sacrament of ordination to be made a Bishop, he can either change the law or give himself a dispensation from that particular canon.
It wouldn’t even be considered that scandalous if he did so, there is an established process for Anglican clergy to be ordained in the Latin rite even when they are already married, when they convert to Catholicism, and married Catholic clergy exist in the eastern Catholic Churches as well.
One of the most interesting Wikipedia pages. It lists the married popes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sexually_active_popes
He would become a married Pope. Like many married popes before him (including Peter).
Divorced isn’t allowed
It is not a permanent church law that priests can’t be married. It is merely a rule they are enforcing at the moment. Any time they want to, they could change the rule. (Unlike something like female clergy, which the Pope has said is against permanent canon law.)
You can’t get a divorce from God
I have an acquaintance whose grandfather was a priest. He converted to Catholicism after getting married and then became a priest. So married priests can happen, it’s just not common.
It did always make me do a double take to hear “Father and Mrs So-and-so…”
The Borgias anyone?
Pope Adrian II – Wikipedia
There you go.
There are also popes who had kids, one died from eating too much musk melon.
Interesting and likely not impossible. My parents were part of a Catholic Church that the LA Archdiocese stopped supporting. The pastor of the community worked with the participants (including my mom) and discovered that if a church is abandoned by its diocese they can elect priests from among their community and ordain them… married or not. So the pastor ordained two men who had families and they carried on the community for about another 15-20 years. They were both married, legally ordained Catholic priests.
They won’t be able to take the position. A lay person can be elected as a pope, but the pope can’t be a lay person. As leader of the Catholic clergy, the pope can’t be married but he can be widowed, morbidly enough.
I heard the prohibition against marriage was so the church could keep accumulating wealth and not have it passed onto the priests’ families on the death of the priests.
It was a cash grab dressed up as a “spiritual calling” to celibacy. Happened in the 12th century.
Unintended consequence was giving generations of gay men a place to hide in plain sight in their communities and not be questioned when they weren’t married off and making babies by their late teens.
And families a way to be proud of having a son serve the “lord” instead of being scandalized by having a queer in the family.
So yeah
And here we are centuries later in all this psychosexual bullshit the Catholic church created in their greed but yea, they blame the sexual revolution of the 60’s and 70’s and increasing secularism for their problems with pedophilia.
Thus say the unmarried celibate men who wear dresses and call them selves priests