2007-02-02 07:21:18 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
No, but they have to be celibate after ordination.
There are many married men who become priests after their wife died.
This idea of a celibate clergy came from the Jews, John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostle Paul.
The Jews. The Talmud argues that a person whose “soul is bound up with the Torah and is constantly occupied with it” may remain celibate (Maimonides, Laws of Marriage 15.3). For example, Yahweh ordered the prophet Jeremiah not to marry (Jeremiah 16:1-4). Moreover, the Essenes was a group that was active in Jesus’ time that practiced celibacy and thought by most scholars to be the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
WWJD? What would Jesus do? Jesus did not marry.
John the Baptist and Jesus are both believed to have been celibate for their entire lives. Some scholars believe that the example of the Essenes influenced either or both Jesus and John the Baptist in their celibacy.
The Apostle Paul is explicit about his celibacy (see 1 Cor. 7). There is also evidence in the gospel of Matthew for the practice of celibacy among at least some early Christians, in the famous passage about becoming “eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:12).
The concept took many twists and turns over the years and will probably take a few more before Christ returns in glory.
A priest is "married" to the Church. Some people think that a priest who takes his duties seriously cannot take proper care of a wife and family. "A man cannot serve two masters."
With love in Christ.
2007-02-02 16:09:49 · answer #1 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, before you become a priest (or enter seminary school) you do not have to be a virgin. However, once you enter the priesthood, you take a vow of celebacy and you may not, under any circumstances, have sex. So, as far as the pope is concerned, from the moment he became a priest, he has been virginal. Before that, who cares. I do think he's still a virgin since I"ve never read anything about him having a wife, and he's the kind of person who, if he was going to have sex, would marry first.
2007-02-02 07:28:05 · answer #2 · answered by sister steph 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, priests do not have to be virgins to be priests; they had a life before the priesthood, like everyone else.
What is it your business whether or not the Pope is a virgin?
Has he publicly asked if you are?
2007-02-02 07:29:15 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No they do not. Some men have become priests after their wives died. Besides, how would anyone know if a man was a "virgin"??
2007-02-02 07:27:29 · answer #4 · answered by PaulCyp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Possibly you have never heard of the saying
" Every fortune has a crime behind it
and a saint a sinner "
Thus any priest wanting to realize the higher self has to taste the 'forbidden fruit'.
2007-02-04 21:32:36 · answer #5 · answered by madhatter 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not sure because I'm not Catholic, but I don't think they forbid priests to have heterosexual experiences before they become priests.
2007-02-02 07:26:47 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, they just have to be celibate after becoming a priest.
2007-02-02 07:25:40 · answer #7 · answered by smartypants909 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The pope is a former nazi youth. They were required to have sex with as many germanic ladies as they could.
2007-02-02 07:27:50 · answer #8 · answered by bocasbeachbum 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
They don't have to be virgins.
2007-02-02 07:26:31 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋