Thank you Smokey, very informative although it does not answer the question as to why the Celibacy rule is still so important to the Catholic Church....in fact your links bring the ruling even further into question, as it is evidently not part of original Catholic theology.


I also found an interesting little snippet which appears to bear out what I was saying about celibacy being a convenient hiding place for homosexuals and other sexually unorthodox types.

"By far the group that has the highest rate of HIV infection of any occupation is Catholic priests from gay relationships. It is logical that many gay men would choose the priesthood in an attempt to deny their natural sexual orientation."

I agree with you that celibacy per se is not the problem, but the "Rule" provides a place in Catholicism for those who are neither celibate nor sincerely religious