A Brief History Of: Celibacy

The Rev. Alberto Cutié made an attractive poster boy for the Roman Catholic Church: he's young, telegenic and the host of a popular Miami radio show. But since photos surfaced on May 5 showing the priest dubbed Padre Oprah frolicking with an attractive young woman, he's become a reluctant part of the centuries-old debate over clerical celibacy.

It wasn't until the 12th century that formal rules were established forbidding clergymen to have sex. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Peter himself had a mother-in-law (which would usually imply a wife as well). The ban had theological roots--abstaining from pleasures of the flesh to demonstrate one's commitment to the church--but there was a practical reason too: celibacy meant no offspring vying to inherit church property. That's not to say the rules were always followed, however. Many priests' spirits proved weak and their flesh willing--notably the sybaritic Pope Alexander VI, who installed his teenage son as an Archbishop in 1493. Fernando Lugo, the current President of Paraguay and a former bishop, is accused of fathering three children as a man of the cloth. And while abstinence does not inevitably lead to child molestation, critics are quick to draw a link between priestly celibacy and recent pedophilia scandals.

At the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, hopes that the church would abandon celibacy were dashed by the election of the conservative Paul VI. A severe shortage of priests may prompt the church to reconsider. Since Vatican II, seminary enrollment has dropped 75%. Cutié, suspended from clerical duties, is grappling over whether to wed his girlfriend of two years. If he takes the secular path, he won't be alone: an estimated 25,000 former priests are married and living in the U.S. today.