Home > Clerical celibacy
A vow of clerical celibacy is the promise of a Christian priest or bishop to remain unmarried, or, in some churches, of a deacon or priest not to remarry if his wife dies. In conjunction with church rules prohibiting sex outside of marriage, this implies a life of sexual abstinence.Neither the Catholic nor the Orthodox church has ever considered celibacy rules to be among the infallible dogmas of the church. Rather, those rules are considered mutable by popes, councils, patriarchSee Patriarchs (Bible) for details about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. Originally a patriarch is a man who exercises autocratic authority over an extended family. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are referred to as the thres, or synodA synod (also known as a council is a council of a church, usually a Christian church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine or administration. An ecumenical council is so named because it is a synod of the whole church (or, more accurately, of what thos. The popes have altered the celibacy rules in the Catholic church a number of times.
The rules provide that:
- In Latin-RiteThe Latin Rite is the name given to the rituals, customs and laws followed by the Roman Catholic Church. Of the many Latin rites of the past, three have survived: the Roman rite (the more common), and the Mozarabic and Ambrosian rites, used mostly in Lomb (i.e., Western) Catholic churches, married men may (since the time of the Second Vatican CouncilThe Second Vatican Council or Vatican II was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965. It is not accepted by all who call themselves Catholics. Some attribute to it a les) be ordainedThis article is about the sacrament. Holy Orders was also the title of a 1908 book by Marie Corelli. Holy Orders in the modern Catholic Church and in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Anglican churches, includes three degrees: bishops, priests, deacons, but may not be ordained priests or bishops, and one may not marry after ordination. Since the Second Vatican CouncilThe Second Vatican Council or Vatican II was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965. It is not accepted by all who call themselves Catholics. Some attribute to it a les, exceptions may be allowed for married ProtestantProtestantism in the strict sense of the word is the group of princes and imperial cities who, at the diet of Speyer in 1529, tried a protestation against the Edict of Worms which forbade the Lutheran teachings within the Holy Roman Empire. From there, th ministers who convert to Catholicism and wish to be Catholic priests, provided their wives consent. (Catholics consider Protestant ordinationsThis article is about the sacrament. Holy Orders was also the title of a 1908 book by Marie Corelli. Holy Orders in the modern Catholic Church and in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Anglican churches, includes three degrees: bishops, priests, invalid, and recognize Eastern Orthodox and Oriental OrthodoxThe term Oriental Orthodoxy refers to the churches of Eastern Christian traditions that keeps the faith of only the first three ecumenical councils of the undivided Church the councils of Nicea, Constantinople and Ephesus. The Oriental Orthodox churches r ordinations as valid.) In some cases, defrocked (or "laicized") priests are allowed to marry by special dispensation.
- In Eastern Orthodox churches, and in Eastern-rite Catholic churches (i.e., churches under the authority of Catholic patriarchs of the east and in full communion with the Roman Catholic church), married men may be ordained deacons or priests, but may not be ordained bishops, and one may not marry after ordination. In addition, married priests are not required to completely abstain from conjugal activity at all times, for the rest of their lives. The prohibition of Episcopal rank is not related to celibacy nor marriage but is an artifact of the Orthodox requirement that Bishops must be monks.
- Anglican and almost all other Protestant denominations have no restrictions on the marriage of deacons, priests, bishops, or other ministers.
- In the LDS Church, all worthy men can become priests. Whether or not they become priests, strict abstinence from all sexual behavior is universally applied to all LDS men until they marry a woman. Gay men are bound to exactly the same rules as other men. Priesthood may be suspended in the event of unsanctioned inchaste conduct.
