The idea that Paul would praise celibacy on the one hand, and then set up requirements for elder and overseer that exclude anyone who followed his advice, and would even exclude Jesus himself, is just ridiculous.
And God said in the very beginning......*It is not good for man to be alone*.
Paul does not elevate celibacy over marriage.
Nor does he require it for church leadership as Roman Catholicism does.
And I don’t want to hear that nonsense about it not being a requirement to be a priest.
If it weren’t a requirement, then there’d be a whole lot more married priests than there are. And there wouldn’t be men leaving the priesthood to become married.
There is no legitimate reason for tying serving in the Catholic church with celibacy or rather, being unmarried, because in light of the goings on within the Catholic hierarchy, clearly celibacy is not the issue. It’s being married that is the problem with Catholicism.