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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 ...
The word celibacy can mean either the state of being unmarried or sexual abstinence, especially because of religious vows, from sexual intercourse. [4] [5]In the canon law of the Latin Church, the word celibacy is used specifically in the sense of being unmarried.
In epigraphy, the testimony of the Church Fathers, synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.
The canon law of the Roman Catholic Church requires that clerics "observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven"; [1] for this reason, priests in Roman Catholic dioceses make vows of celibacy at their ordination, thereby agreeing to remain unmarried and abstinent throughout their lives.
The view of the Church is that celibacy is a reflection of life in Heaven, a source of detachment from the material world which aids in one's relationship with God. Celibacy is designed to "consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to "the affairs of the Lord, they give themselves entirely to God and to men.
During their partnership, Coles, 61, maintained that he and Oldham cohabitated on the basis that they didn’t have sex, as Church of England priests are required to practice celibacy.
The Latin Catholic Church as a rule requires clerical celibacy for the priesthood since the Gregorian Reform in the late 11th century under the influence of Bernard of Clairvaux, but Eastern Catholic Churches do not require clerical celibacy for the priesthood and the Latin Catholic Church occasionally relaxes the discipline in special cases ...
The Church practice of celibacy is based on Jesus' example and his teaching as given in Matthew 19:11–12, as well as the writings of St. Paul who spoke of the advantages celibacy allowed a man in serving the Lord. [96] Celibacy was "held in high esteem" from the Church's beginnings.