Can. 33. Bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and all other clerics having a position in the ministry, are ordered to abstain completely from their wives and not have children. Whoever, in fact, does this shall be expelled from the dignity of the clerical state. (Council of Elvira, 309 AD)
The bottom line is a belief that one is more holy if one does not marry. Balderdash.
Now concerning the things whereof you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman ... But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is without a wife is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord: how he may please God. But he that is with a wife is solicitous for the things of the world: how he may please his wife. And he is divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord: that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the world: how she may please her husband. And this I speak for your profit, not to cast a snare upon you, but for that which is decent and which may give you power to attend upon the Lord, without impediment ... Therefore both he that giveth his virgin in marriage doth well: and he that giveth her not doth better. A woman is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth: but if her husband die, she is at liberty. Let her marry to whom she will: only in the Lord. But more blessed shall she be, if she so remain, according to my counsel. And I think that I also have the spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 7:1,32-35,38-40)
This does not speak to the ongoing universal situation of priests and/or leaders. The Corinthian church struggled perhaps more than other churches with sexual issues. Thus, Paul's strong rebuke in 1 Cor 5.