Some point to the selection of married men as Apostles as proof that marriage is OK for priests (and I understand that logic), but in the end all of the Apostles but one were martyred - and there is no mention as to how their families were cared for afterwards.
Recent battles with Nazism and Communism highlight a great argument for celibacy; Catholic priests could accept martyrdom far more readily than Lutheran or Eastern Orthodox clergy.
Before the revolution was pink, it was red. Before it was red, it was orange.
The transition from red to pink occurred in 1933 with the publication of “The Mass Psychology of Fascism” by Wilhelm Reich, who died in an FDA prison after sentencing for medical fraud for repeatedly marketing a kooky Orgone Machine (Woody Allen-type orgasmatron).
In the book, which took Marxism into the sexual revolution finalized by Michel Foucault, Reich theorized something very practical, leading us into the present “Heresy of Ba’al of Peor” (Numbers 25:1–15):
As a Marxist, you don’t argue theology with a Seminarian, you get him to engage in flapping (the vicious, solitary habit), then he won’t pray, he’ll be spending time in the bathroom watching TikTok, with the water running so no one will “know what’s going on in there”. (Right.)
People today don’t understand this.
Being a priest through history put a huge target on your back. At one point the church was THE most powerful entity on this planet. Even Kings would not dare cross the church.
Having a wife and family, when you have a target on your back, puts a target on them as well.
Folks today don’t understand this. There are indeed solid reasons for priests not being allowed to marry and forsaking romantic involvements. Did priests have sex? Of course they did, they are humans.. and the church’s historic handling of the children created by such behaviors is far from compassionate at times. However, to say it has no bases or purpose, is false.