Posted on 06/25/2025 4:09:36 PM PDT by ebb tide
Pope Leo XIV affirmed Wednesday that priests must be celibate and insisted that bishops take “firm and decisive” action to deal with sex abusers, as he gave marching orders Wednesday to the world’s Catholic hierarchs.
Leo met in St. Peter’s Basilica with about 400 bishops and cardinals from 38 countries attending this week’s special Holy Year celebrations for clergy. A day after he gave an uplifting message of encouragement to young seminarians, Leo offered a more comprehensive outline of what bishops must do to lead their flocks.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Ping
Isn’t it nice to have a Catholic Pope again?
> action on sex abuse
Easy to say. Prove it.
These are no cost statements. I mean, who wants abusing priests?
And a married priesthood is mostly a finished argument as well.
Yes. Did you see the jubilant reception the seminarians gave him at St. Peter’s?
“Firm and decisive” action?
Omg. Sounds like something gay priests might enjoy.
Still waiting to see.
Does celibacy only apply to relations with women? Because, if not, I got some bad news for you, Father.
The left hand knows not what the right hand does
Does celibacy only apply to relations with women?
There are married priests in the Eastern Catholic Churches, where a married priest is common. In the Western (Latin) Catholic Church a married priest is possible, but the rare exception.
Chastity is the virtue which applies to every Christian, "according to their state in life," which means that sexual activity is only to occur within marriage*, and also must not deliberately frustrate the conception of new life.
*Marriage is one man and one woman. Always.
Actually celibacy is the state of not having sexual relations with anyone at any time. Avowed singlehood. Although a person can be married but celebate in unfortunate circumstances, such as a spouse's lont-term illness. Here is Wikipedia's explanation:
Celibacy (from Latin caelibatus) is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the term celibacy is applied only to those for whom the unmarried state is the result of a sacred vow, act of renunciation, or religious conviction. In a wider sense, it is commonly understood to only mean abstinence from sexual activity.
Glad to hear this. It would be really nice, however, if he would stop promoting those who push blessings for the rainbow people.
The correct term for that is "sexual continence".
"Celibate" means not married. It's a rather recent (16th C) borrowing from the Latin "caelibatus," which means simply "not married". That's according to the OED.
It is. Even nicer is a Pope who keeps a general low profile but is vocal on key religious matters like this one
That will be visible over the years. One key point is that the bulk of the abuse cases happened in the 60s and 70s and petered out by the noughties. They need to be brought yo6zero, but the trend is already hopeful and with Pope Leon’s oversight we can head to that 0 level
No, celibacy is abstinence from sexual relations.
Pope Leo is proving himself. He’s been Pope only for a few months, so don’t be so hasty to judge.
Thanks. The word “celebate” has drifted into Americanese as “not getting any” (LOL), and Americanese has become a sloppy mess from many languages; but I do appreciate your Latin root precision.
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