which was a local council. Yes, the church in Rome had a tradition of celibacy very early on. When I say Rome I don’t mean the whole western Church. In Ireland in the early days, there were married bishops. In the Orthodox Church they have married priests and celibate monks, the bishops are chosen from among the monks. I think theologically there should be no problem in changing the rules to conform to the Orthodox model —but the stumbling bloc appears to be more political.
It’s my understanding that Orthodox priests are still expected to remain unmarried if they were so before their ordination. The difference between Orthodox and Catholic is that married men are allowed to be ordained (with converted, married priests from the Anglican church).