Since I started this quest to uncover where the Roman Catholic Church went wrong — and strayed away from the true Gospel of Jesus Christ — I’ve discovered despicable dogmas and doctrines that are so far from the Gospel, it can only be the devil’s schemes at its core. I’ve left this topic for last because I’ve been dreading it ever since God gave me the inspiration for this series. I can use a thesaurus-full of adjectives and synonyms for “horrendous”, “repulsive”, “abominable”, etc., and it won’t be enough to describe the perverted assaults on innocent women and children.
We’ve all seen it in the news. No matter how well, the Pope, the Holy See, the Council of Cardinals, archbishops and priests try to hide it, the crimes come out. The question is who started the whole clerical celibacy concept? When? Had they known it would lead to such ugliness and sin, all may have been prevented.
For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
Proverbs 5:21-23 NLT
27 So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
Genesis 1:27-28 NLT
See, God told the Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply”! He blessed the relationship between a man and a woman.
The Demand for Clerical Celibacy
The earliest evidence of the forbidding of marriage to clerics and the duty of those already married to abstain from sexual contact with their wives is in the fourth-century decrees of the Synod of Elvira and the later Council of Carthage (390). According to some writers, this presumed a previous norm, which was being flouted in practice.
Synod of Elvira (c. 305)
(Canon 33): “It is decided that marriage be altogether prohibited to bishops, priests, and deacons, or to all clerics placed in the ministry, and that they keep away from their wives and not beget children; whoever does this shall be deprived of the honor of the clerical office.”
Council of Carthage (390)
(Canon 3): “It is fitting that the holy bishops and priests of God as well as the Levites, i.e. those who are in the service of the divine sacraments, observe perfect continence, so that they may obtain in all simplicity what they are asking from God; what the Apostles taught and what antiquity itself observed, let us also endeavour to keep. … It pleases us all that bishop, priest and deacon, guardians of purity, abstain from conjugal intercourse with their wives, so that those who serve at the altar may keep a perfect chastity.”
Wikipedia
It actually goes further back than this…
Council of Nicaea (325)
(Canon 3) Prohibition of the presence in the house of a cleric of a younger woman who might bring him under suspicion.
Basically, they’re warning priests to not have temptation in their house.
Gregory VII – 1074
In 1074, the ban on clerical marriage became official. Pope Gregory VII “had prevented the clergy from degenerating into a hereditary cast and had created a class of men loyal to their spiritual superior, the pope. This settlement solved the issue of lay investiture. … later popes built on the foundations that he laid. 1
So, the idea behind clerical celibacy was to have priests, bishops, etc. loyal to the pope rather then wives or a family. Aren’t we supposed to be loyal to Jesus first? Gregory went so far as to deny married priests their salaries. What were married priests supposed to do? Get divorced? Isn’t divorce against the church?
This was also a factor in the major schism between the East and the Western churches. The West wanted to keep their clergy celibate and the Eastern — which would become the Eastern Orthodox Church — was OK with them marrying.
What about the Nuns?
The nuns’ vows of charity, poverty and obedience in essence they were “married” to Christ — was based on Tertullian’s “Fathers of the 3rd Century” and “On the Veiling of Virgins.” So this goes back even further.
More “Canon Law”
First Council of the Lateran – 1123
(Canon 3) Priests, deacons, and subdeacons are forbidden to live with women other than such as were permitted by the Nicene Council. (Which I quoted above.)
Second Council of the Lateran – 1139
(Canon 6 and 7) Repeated the First Lateran Council’s condemnation of marriage and concubinage among priests, deacons, subdeacons, monks, and nuns.
The Pit of Sin and Debauchery is Created
What happens when you deny a man the God-given right to marry and have children? Well, let your imaginations soar because it all happened. For nobility, especially during the Medieval Days through the Renaissance and beyond, having heirs meant power and prestige. That’s what we find with Pope Alexander VI, ruler of the Papal States from April 1655 to his death in 1667. He was from the renowned Borgia family.
First, he kept in the papal palace, several mistresses or concubines and fathered 5 children; the boys of which went on to get cardinal or archbishop positions around Europe. So much for the vow of celibacy! This is the pope! It is also reported that one of his sons hosted an orgy called the “Banquet of Chestnuts” at the papal palace with prostitutes. I won’t go into further detail as they are disgusting.
Fast Forward to the 20th Century…
1969 – Pope Paul VI met with Dutch psychiatrist Anna Terruwe, who discovered that 25% of the priesthood suffered from serious psychiatric disorders. The Holy See did nothing.
1985 – First priest to be convicted of sexually molesting a child – pedophilia. He was sentenced to 20 years and the church paid $5 million in restitution. It gets worse and worse, uglier and uglier.
1950 – 2003 – The Archdioceses of New Orleans
- Accused Priests: 20 (of which allegations, 10 credible, 7 “not credible,” 3 “inconclusive”; from Archbishop Hughes’s report)
- Total Diocesan Priests: 867 diocesan priests (not including 272 deacons)
- Persons Making Allegations: 34 (from AP table)
- Cost: $2,057,173 (of which $1,187,066 for settlements, $448,735 for therapy, and $421,372 in legal fees)
- May, 2020 – Archdiocese of New Orleans files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of the settlement they had to pay out from the sex abuse trial.
- 2020 – Clergy sex abuse survivors demand Archdiocese of New Orleans audit for PPP money (PPP is the federal funding for small businesses that need help with payroll to keep employees because of the hardship of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.)
What’s also interesting is that the Vatican or Holy See is letting one of it’s fairly large archdioceses file for bankruptcy. They won’t spend any of the their riches to bail them out.
Feb. 2019 – Pope Francis confirms priests all over the world abused nuns as sex slaves (CBS News)
That’s not even scratching the surface of this vile, pit of perversion. It’s not just in the U.S., but all over the world. Just the fact that there has to exist a website called BishopAcccountability.org says it all. There’s also a law office that specializes in Catholic priest sex abuse cases and lists many of the cases in the U.S.
Below I’ve embedded a video with an amazing story….
Can the Problem be Fixed?
Could the problem be fixed by allowing priests to marry? God only knows. I think it’s too far in the vile pit of Satan’s clutches to escape now.
Listen to this recent podcast from Pastor Brandon Holthaus, a former Catholic…
They could all turn to Jesus. They would need to denounce Mary and the saints. Dump the 7 sacraments and the whole make-believe concept of purgatory.
Seriously, if you attend a Catholic church, it’s time for you to open your eyes and see that it is taking you in the wrong direction — directly to hell. (Remember, there is no such thing as purgatory!) Now is the time for you to consider where you want to spend eternity….
If you’re not sure if you’re saved or not, if you truly want to be born again and have the assurance of salvation, receive the Holy Spirit, feel His Shalom — a peace that surpasses all understanding, and get a 1-way, non-stop ticket to Heaven after you die, or that you won’t be left behind at the Rapture, which can happen at any moment, this is what you have to do…
Believe. Repent. Be Baptized. Receive the Holy Spirit.
- Believe — have Faith — that Jesus is the Christ and He died taking your sins away forever and that He rose from the dead 3 days later.
- Repent of your sins — stop sinning! Do a complete 180-degree turn in your life and surrender your life to Him. When you ask Jesus to forgive you He will. ALL your sins will be wiped clean — past, present, and future! And All means ALL!
- Be Baptized by water baptism — show the world and yourself that you have died to your old life and are born again in Christ.
- Receive the gift of Holy Spirit in your heart.
Invite Jesus into Your Heart and Receive the Gift of Grace, Joy, Peace, and the Confident Hope of Eternal Life…
Pray this prayer humbly and wholeheartedly…
“Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I believe You died for my sins. Please forgive me. Right now, I turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and my life to you. I confess You as my personal Lord and Savior. I surrender my whole life to you and I will follow you for the rest of my life. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Next Steps in Your New Walk with Jesus…
- Start reading the Bible daily to get to know God. If you don’t have one, I recommend the YouVersion, Bible.app and Through the Word app — both are free and have a lot of great Bible studies.
- Pray every day. Talk to God. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you daily.
- Find and join a Bible-believing church — preferably a non-denominational one and be baptized!
Video:
This video is of a former nun’s testimony of sexual bondage in a convent. It’s long, but I’ve got it queued up to the first heartbreaking story…
Sources:
- Christianity Through the Centuries, Earle E. Cairns, 1996, Zondervan.
