Celibacy did not become an official requirement until the 12th century. Many of the early popes were married and some of their sons even became popes. The original purpose of the vow of celibacy for the priesthood was to ensure that property remained with the Church and was not inherited by a priest's children.
wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_priests_in_the_Roman_Catholi... wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_priests_in_the_Roman_Catholic_Church_required_to_take_a_vow_of_celibacy
Clerical celibacy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clerical celibacy is the practice in various religious traditions, in which clergy, monastics and those (of either sex) in religious orders adopt a celibate life, refraining from marriage and sexual ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerical_celibacy
A recently formed group called C.I.T.I. ("Celibacy Is The Issue") is gaining momentum with its grass roots approach to pressuring American Bishops to in turn pressure Rome to change the vow of celibacy to something more appropriate for the realities of the 20th and 21st centuries.
www.arthurstreet.com/celibacy1993.html www.arthurstreet.com/celibacy1993.html
But if you receive this order (of the subdiaconate) it will no longer be lawful to turn back from your purpose. ... Supposing always that the vow of celibacy is faithfully kept, the power which this practical lesson in disinterestedness must lend to the priest's exhortations when addressing his people is too obvious to...
www.newadvent.org/cathen/03481a.htm
A promise made to God ... A vow is defined as a promise made to God. The promise is binding, and so differs from a simple resolution which is a present purpose to do or omit certain things in the future.
www.newadvent.org/cathen/15511a.htm
This vow means that a Brother does not marry and abstains from sexual activity. Celibacy is simply another way of loving God in a healthy, selfless way. “Some have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept...
http://www.presentationbrothers.com/vocations/8.html
While reporting on a popular Miami priest, Father Alberto Cutie, getting caught on a beach with a woman, on Thursday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez spoke with CBS religion analyst Father Thomas Williams and criticized the Catholic Church for requiring a vow of celibacy for priests: "The Catholic Church,
newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2009/05/07/cbs-s-rod... newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2009/05/07/cbs-s-rodriguez-calls-end-rigid-vow-celibacy-catholic-church
Gandhiji took the vow of brahmacharya (celibacy) in 1906 at the age of thirty six years, after full discussion and deliberation. He had not shared his thoughts with his wife until then, but only consulted her at the time of taking the vow. ... The Purpose of Sannyasa; Swami Sivananda Saraswati...
www.yogamag.net/archives/1983/joct83/gany2.shtml
Their purpose is to allow anyone to come to the wedding to raise any legal impediment to it—such an impediment might be a prior marriage (or pre-contract or betrothal, those being legally the same as a marriage), or a vow of celibacy, or the couple's being related within the prohibited degree of kinship,
www.experiencefestival.com/vow_of_celibacy www.experiencefestival.com/vow_of_celibacy
Celibacy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Celibacy is defined as the lifestyle of someone who is and is striving to remain unmarried all his/her life or to describe a state of life where one chooses to abstain from all sexual activities (als...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celibacy