CELIBACY, as a requirement for the priesthood, is less and less popular among Catholics. When Pope John Paul II recently visited Switzerland, a poll showed that only 38 percent of Catholics in that country were in favor of compulsory celibacy for priests. In the United States, a 1983 Gallup poll showed that 58 percent of Roman Catholics were in favor of allowing priests to marry.

Yet Pope John Paul II has reaffirmed the law of clerical celibacy, as Paul VI did in his famous encyclical Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (Priestly Celibacy), published in 1967. Why does the Vatican continue to impose this unpopular law, even though it appears to be against its own interests? Was priestly celibacy a requirement laid down by Christ and the apostles?

Where Did It Originate?

In the preamble to this 1967 encyclical, Pope Paul VI admitted that “the New Testament, which preserves the teaching of Christ and the Apostles . . . does not demand celibacy of sacred ministers.”

Twentieth Century: “In connection with the second Vatican Council (1962-65) clerical celibacy has once again become a cause of ferment in the Roman Church. . . . Subsequent to the council, the number of priests seeking to leave the priesthood and marry has vastly increased. . . . Pope Paul VI, however, issued an encyclical, Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (June 23, 1967), reaffirming the traditional law on celibacy.”​—Encyclopædia Britannica.

The chart on the following page, outlining the “History of Clerical Celibacy,” shows that compulsory celibacy became canon law only in the 12th century C.E. The pope who did much to prepare the way for its adoption was Gregory VII (1073-85). Interestingly, it is said of him that he “saw more clearly than any other the enormous increase of influence which would accrue to a strictly celibate body of clergy.”