Clerical celibacy in the Catholic Church

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Clerical celibacy is the discipline within the Catholic Church by which only unmarried men are ordained to the priesthood in the Latin Church (one of the 24 sui iuris churches of the Catholic Church with some particular exception and in some autonomous particular Churches), and similarly to the diaconate. In other sui iuris (autonomous) particular churches, the discipline applies only to the episcopate. According to Jason Berry of The New York Times, "The requirement of celibacy is not dogma; it is an ecclesiastical law that was adopted in the Middle Ages because Rome was worried that clerics' children would inherit church property and create dynasties." For several hundred years after the imposition of celibacy on secular (non-monastic/religious) clergy the sale of church offices continued (known as the sin of Simony). The first male issue of non-married concubines of celibate clergy became set to continue the dynasty (a form of nepotism). To curtail this clerical abuse, the Latin Church...

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