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To: Romulus

You may call my views “protestant” if you like as opposed to discussing the facts and you may put me down all you like.

However, I think my views are even more traditional than yours. As the Pope himself correctly noted, married priests were the norm in early Church history. Compulsory clerical celibacy was introduced centuries later and for reasons which had nothing to do with anything which can be found in the Bible. The policy was introduced to primarily to fight corruption within the Church, specifically nepotism and simony.


124 posted on 01/29/2015 6:04:26 AM PST by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

Married priests were common in the early centuries, but were never the norm. Priestly celibacy in the West became the legal norm no later than the 4th century, in recognition of a practical norm that was believed at the time to date to the original Apostles. Moreover, sexual continence was expected within priestly marriages.

I would not rely on Pope Francis in this, as he has justly earned his reputation for careless, ill-considered speech.


128 posted on 01/29/2015 8:42:13 AM PST by Romulus
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