IF the first Pope was Peter (a Jewish man) that was married..
Celibacy is a real stretch.. Peter was the ONLY Pope that knew and talked to Jesus.. (also a Jew)..
That is..... if Peter was a Pope at all..
We know from Scripture that Peter was married ... but that is all we know. We don't know if his wife was alive or dead. Since he spent most of his time on the road with Christ, one could possibly construe that he was a widower. Ultimately, however, Peter was the first pope. His wife, if she was still alive, was not at his side, when he was crucified upside down in the Coliseum.
See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2982428/posts?page=20#20 on the accompanying thread.
Paul was unmarried and while he talks of the virtues of marriage, he also talks of the virtues of being unmarried for God
The best balance is among the Orthodox -- a married man can become a priest (but an unmarried priest can't get married) and bishops are to remain unmarried
The history of celibacy really dates to the end dates of the 1st millenium when people noticed that the unmarried monks were a lot holier than the married priests -- or perhaps about the married priests it was like the gossip about the Vicar's wife
Think of it, even today, if there is a pastor or vicar or whatever with a wife, there tends to be gossip "oh, how does she get that money" or other sordid details, even if, in nearly all cases, the couple are above reproach
well, Catholics do do that. I don't think any denomination has excommunication (not sure) as that is just within orthodoxy (Catholic, Orthodox, Oriental/Coptic/Armenian/Ethiopian and Assyrian) -- but this needs to be wielded more often, I agree