Papal Nookie

[surreyman]

When was it decreed that The Pope should be celibate? Or have they always meant to be so. Reading about the Medicis they seem to be a very colourful mob.

[Zen]

http://www.futurechurch.org/fpm/history.htm

Have look here.

[Westminster]

Is there any such decree? A married man may become a Catholic priest, as Dr Graham Leonard, Anglican Bishop of London did a few years ago. The Vatican holds this to be a matter of discipline, not of faith. It is usual for the College of Cardinals to elect a pope from among their own ranks, but I don't think that there is any requirement for them to do so.

[Octavius]

The Synod of Augsburg (952), and the local Councils of Anse (994) and Poitiers (1000) all affirmed the rule of celibacy. Pope Gregory VII in 1075 forbade married priests or those who had concubines from saying Mass or performing other ecclesiastical functions, and forbade the laity from hearing these Masses or participating in other liturgical functions offered by such priests. Finally, the First Lateran Council (1123), an ecumenical council of the Church, mandated celibacy for the Western clergy. The Second Lateran Council (1139) subsequently decreed Holy Orders as an impediment to marriage, making any attempt at marriage by an ordained cleric invalid.

 

The Council of Trent in its Doctrine on the Sacrament of Orders (1563) stipulated that although celibacy was not a divine law, the Church had the authority to impose celibacy as a discipline. While holding celibacy in high regard, the Church did not diminish the sanctity of marriage or marital love. Moreover, the Council asserted that celibacy was not impossible to live but at the same time recognized that celibates needed the grace of God to do so.

 

The Catholic Church has continued to affirm the discipline of clerical celibacy, most recently in the Second Vatican Council�s decree Presbyterorum ordinis (1965), Pope Paul VI�s encyclical Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (1967), and in the Code of Canon Law (1983).

[Octavius]

In June 2003, Pope John Paul II reaffirmed celibacy for priests, rejecting calls in Europe and in the Philippines as well to change the Church rule saying "(Celibacy) is a sign of the priest's undivided love for God and for his people," .

[margaretdb]

I understand there there has been a woman pope. I heard the other day that they were named John until the day they GAVE BIRTH and then they changed the Popes name to Joan.