Quote:
Originally posted by RedRoseSAI
In addition to the reasons already mentioned, there's another, slightly less high-minded reason. In medieval times, the priest of a church had some property rights of the church's lands, although I'm not sure to what extent. To prevent church lands going to a priest's descendants (and thus diminishing the power of the church...land=power, esp. back then) it was handed down that priests had to remain celebate and unmarried.
I'm sure there were some spiritual reasons behind this decision as well, but I tend to believe this explanation the most.
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That is indeed what historically led to the requirement of the celibate priesthood in the Western Church. I think that the more spiritual reasons are understood as being the reasons for maintaining the requirement, since the celibate priesthood is understood as a practice that the Church can modify or do away with.