[y2k_free_radical]

WHY was marriage OK for priest until 1080 when priest were forced to divorce their wives---what about the concubibes afterwards and illegitimate children afterwards fathered by POPES,BISHOPS ,and PRIESTS

[RobbyS]

Believe me there were lots of bastards begot by clergy before 1080. Pope Gregory was trying to put the lid on a tendency to make the priesthood hereditary like the levitical priesthood. The danger was that in a feudal society such a priesthood would become part of the nobility. SAs it was the higher ranks of the Church were often filled by the younger sons of the nobility. The Albigensian and Waldensian movement were both fed by public revulsion at the worldiness of the Catholic clergy. The Dominican and Franciscan movement were Catholic reactions to the same thing.