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Since the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church has formally required priests and bishops to be celibate. Celibacy is a practice and discipline, however, going back to the early Church, even if it were not absolutely required of all ordained previously. In this context, ''celibate'' is ''not'' synonymous with ''sexually abstinent''; ''celibate'' means not married; it entails sexual abstinence because of a separate church doctrine requiring sexual abstinence outside of marriage. The discipline of celibacy is not considered one of the infallible immutable dogmas, but Catholic doctrine does say that viginity and celibacy, lived out as abstinence, are higher than marriage, following the Letters of Paul of Tarsus and confirmed by a dogma in the Council of Trent (see clerical celibacy). For example, in some cases a married Protestant minister or Anglican priest who becomes a Catholic may be ordained to the priesthood. In particular, present-day church law allows the College of Cardinals to elect a married man to the papacy. In the Eastern Catholic Churches, married men are routinely ordained to the priesthood, but not to the episcopate. According to the Gospels, Saint Peter was married. St. Peter founded the Christian community in Rome and became its bishop.
Some popes were sexually active before their election as pope; and it has sometimes been claimed that other Popes were sexually active during their papacies.
Periods in parentheses refer to the years of their papacies.

Contents

Sexually active popes

See also

Notes

References

Sexually active popes

★ Saint Peter, traditionally the first Pope, was married, known to have taken his wife along on his apostolic/mission journeys (1 Cor. 9:5).

★ Pope St. Hormisdas (514–523) was married and widowed before ordination. He was the father of Pope Silverius. ^[1]

★ Pope Adrian II (867–872) was married, before taking orders, and had a daughter.

★ Pope Sergius III (904–911) was supposedly the father of Pope John XI by Marozia (Source: Liber Pontificalis, Liutprand of Cremona).

★ Pope John XII (955–963) (deposed by Conclave) was said to have turned the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano into a brothel and was accused of adultery, fornication, and incest (Source: Patrologia Latina).^[2]

★ Pope Clement IV (1265–1268) was married, before taking holy orders, and had two daughters.

★ Pope Pius II (1458–1464) had at least two illegitimate children (one in Strasbourg and one in Scotland.

★ Pope Innocent VIII (1484–1492) had several illegitimate children.

★ Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503) had a notably long affair with Vannozza dei Cattanei before his papacy, by whom he had his famous illegitimate children Cesare and Lucrezia. A later mistress, Giulia Farnese, was the sister of Alessandro Farnese, who later became Pope Paul III. Rumors of Alexander's sexual activity were even more wild — see Banquet of Chestnuts. He fathered a total of seven children.

★ Pope Julius II (1503–1513) had three illegitimate daughters.

★ Pope Clement VII (1523–1534) was probably the father of Alessandro de' Medici, whom he made Duke of Florence.

★ Pope Paul III (1534–1549) held off ordination in order to continue his promiscuous lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children by his mistress. His nickname was "Cardinal Petticoat" because his sister Giulia had been Alexander VI's mistress. He made his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese the first Duke of Parma.

★ Pope Pius IV (1559–1565) had several illegitimate children.

★ Pope Gregory XIII (1572–1585) had an illegitimate son before he took holy orders.

See also

★ Legends surrounding the papacy

Notes

1. ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1910) Pope St. Hormisdas
2. Decline and Fall of the Roman Church, Martin, Malachi, , , Bantam Books, 1981, ISBN 0-553-22944-3 p. 105

References

★ ''The Pope Encyclopedia: An A to Z of the Holy See'' , Matthew Bunson, Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, 1995.

★ ''The Papacy'', Bernhard Schimmelpfennig, Columbia University Press, New York, 1984.

★ ''Lives of the Popes'', Richard P. McBrien, Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1997.

★ ''Papal Genealogy'', George L. Williams, McFarland& Co., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1998.

★ ''Sex Lives of the Popes'', Nigel Cawthorne, Prion, London, 1996.