Here are the facts regarding celibacy and the priesthood:
1) There is absolutely NOTHING in the Bible which mandates celibacy as a prerequisite for service in the priesthood.
2) The priesthood, though not mentioned in the New Testament, is mentioned extensively in the Old Testament, and yes of course priests were married men with families including Moses’s brother, Aaron.
3) Mandatory clerical celibacy did not come about until much later in the Catholic Church. After the Middle Ages. In fact the first 40 popes at least were married men and the overwhelming majority of priests and bishops were married men for at least 1,000 years after the founding of the Catholic Church.
4) Mandatory clerical celibacy was put into force by the Church to fight rampant corruption, primarily nepotism and simony.
The Lord commands us to be fruitful and multiply, to celebrate life, not celibate life.
There are ALREADY married men serving as priests in the Catholic Church and they are just as holy as the single celibate priests.
“4) Mandatory clerical celibacy was put into force by the Church to fight rampant corruption, primarily nepotism and simony”
The ironic thing is, and sad to say, that this did not stop corruption nor nepotism nor simony. Review 1200-1500
**There are ALREADY married men serving as priests in the Catholic Church and they are just as holy as the single celibate priests.**
But they were grandfathered in because they converted from other non-Catholic sects.
Celibacy is still the rule. If these convert married priest’s wife dies, then they are to remain celibate. They cannot remarry.