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CNN Live Today

Celibacy Among Priests Comes Under Question

Aired April 24, 2002 - 14:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the crisis in the priesthood is focusing new attention on an old debate, over celibacy. Jonathan Mann even mentioned that subject matter. CNN's Garrick Utley talks more about this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARRICK UTLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Of all the vows a priest takes, is any more difficult, more contrary to human nature than celibacy? Ask Father John O'Malley, a leading scholar on church history.

(on camera): Is celibacy something that priests today talk much about, debate?

FATHER JOHN O'MALLEY, CATHOLIC SCHOLAR: They do, yes. And you know, you would be surprised, I think, at how many priests, who, you know, think the law should be changed. There are so few young men entering the seminary, so that the supply of priests for the future is fast drying up, and certainly one of the factors here is this requirement of celibacy.

UTLEY: The debate over celibacy goes back to the earliest Christian writings. For example, in timothy, Chapter Three, Saint Paul says: "A bishop must be above reproach, the husband of one wife. He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way. For if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for God's church."

(voice-over): Saint Paul did not marry, but Saint Peter did. Some early Christians even argued that no one should indulge in sex, until wiser minds pointed out that that would soon mean the end of Christianity. By the middle ages, priests, bishops and 39 popes had married.

O'MALLEY: There were a lot of married clergy, and this was in many parts of Europe thought to be quite normal. And also a lot of priests living, as is said, in concubinage, living openly with women to whom they were not married, but by whom they had children.

UTLEY: Pope Gregory VII saw that as one of many scandals and practices in the church, and pushed his reforms to stop it. But when celibacy was made mandatory in the year 1139, one bishop warned, "When celibacy is imposed, priests will commit sins far worse than fornication."

Of course, there is no way of knowing whether the reported cases of sexual abuse by priests would have occurred if celibacy didn't exist. Many pedophiles are married men. For all of the debate over celibacy, it is not widely known that some priests in today's church are married, priests from Protestant denominations who have converted and are allowed to continue their family life.

(on camera): For the fact is, celibacy is not part of church dogma. Rather, it is a policy, a rule that has been applied for the most recent half of the church's existence. And of course, what church leaders made, they can also unmake, if they want to.

(voice-over): But will they want to?

O'MALLEY: Well, that is the big questions, isn't it? That is the big question, so I will not pronounce on that.

UTLEY: And those who have pronounced on it, including the pope, have made clear that although the times may have changed, celibacy in the church is not about to.

Garrick Utley, CNN.

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