DISCIPLINE
Priestly celibacy in the Latin Church
Summary
Priestly celibacy in the Latin Church is a disciplinary law of great spiritual value, not a dogma. The Church has authority to bind Latin-rite candidates for the priesthood to celibacy while recognizing that married priests exist in Eastern Catholic Churches and, in limited cases, in the Latin Church. Calling celibacy a dogma confuses a changeable ecclesiastical discipline with revealed doctrine.
The exact theological classification and certainty vocabulary are provisional and require qualified theological review.
Sources
CCC 1579-1580
Celibacy in the Latin Church; married clergy in Eastern Churches.
Presbyterorum Ordinis 16
Vatican II on priestly celibacy as a law of the Latin Church.
CIC can. 277
Latin-rite obligation of clerical continence and celibacy.
Source fidelity
Moderate source match. The Church’s teaching stands on its own authority. This meter only grades how faithfully Catholic Context restates the cited source.
Draft follows CCC 1579-1580 and Presbyterorum Ordinis 16 on celibacy as Latin discipline.
- Theological review pending.
- Classification vocabulary is provisional.
Understanding the Teaching
Founding spine object for 'Is priestly celibacy a dogma?' Draft; theological review pending.
Related Context
Provenance
- Review state
- DRAFT — THEOLOGICAL REVIEW PENDING
- Reviewer
- Not yet assigned
- Review date
- Pending
- Canonical file
- context/discipline/priestly-celibacy.yaml ↗
- Revision history
- View on GitHub ↗