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Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because these impulses are regarded as sinful. [ 1 ]
Clerical celibacy is the discipline within the Catholic Church by which only unmarried men are ordained to the episcopate, to the priesthood in the Latin Church (one of the 24 rites of the Catholic Church with some particular exception and in some autonomous particular Churches), and similarly to the diaconate. In other autonomous particular ...
Sacerdotalis caelibatus (Latin for "Of priestly celibacy") is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI. Acknowledging the traditions given by the Holy Spirit to the Church in the East and acknowledging some few pastoral exceptions in the West, the encyclical explains and defends the Catholic Church's tradition of clerical celibacy in the West. The ...
The practice of clerical marriage was initiated in the West by the followers of Martin Luther, who himself, a former priest and monk, married Katharina von Bora, a former nun, in 1525. It has not been introduced in the East. In the Church of England, however, the Catholic tradition of clerical celibacy continued after the Break with Rome.
The Council of Elvira in Spain (c. 305–306) was the first council to call for clerical celibacy. In February 385, Pope Siricius wrote the Directa decretal , which was a long letter to Spanish bishop Himerius of Tarragona , replying to the bishop's requests on various subjects, which had been sent several months earlier to Pope Damasus I . [ 40 ]
The words abstinence and celibacy are often used interchangeably, but are not necessarily the same thing.Sexual abstinence, also known as continence, [10] is abstaining from some or all aspects of sexual activity, often for some limited period of time, [11] while celibacy may be defined as a voluntary religious vow not to marry or engage in sexual activity.
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Celibacy was "held in high esteem" from the Church's beginnings. It is considered a kind of spiritual marriage with Christ, a concept further popularized by the early Christian theologian Origen . Clerical celibacy began to be demanded in the 4th century, including papal decretals beginning with Pope Siricius . [ 97 ]