# Was there ever a married Pope? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2005, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942 "2005-04-12T07:29:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/1 "2005-04-12T07:29:38Z")
I mean literally married. The reason I’m asking is because I just read that any Catholic male can be elected pope, he doesn’t have to be a Cardinal or even a priest. Is there a rule specifically prohibiting the pope from being a married man? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/2 "2005-04-12T07:40:22Z")
See [previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6015576#post6015576) ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/3 "2005-04-12T13:56:36Z")
If you accept the Catholic doctrine that Simon Peter was the first pope, then yes. In Mark 1:29-31 is the account of Christ healing Simon’s wife’s mother. Therefore we must assume that Peter was married. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/4 "2005-04-12T17:40:09Z")
Check out the Borgia pope. I don’t recall if he was married, but I read he had sex with his daughter Lucretia. Another lead on his antics would be the “waltz of the chestnuts”. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/5 "2005-04-12T18:22:58Z")
I tried to track down the information about married popes, but the actual objective list has been obscured on Google in people arguing against clerical celibacy. The early Church had no rule requiring clerical celibacy, that rule being imposed to prevent a sort of simony-by-inheritance of church offices. Many of the early popes were married; there are even three sets of father-and-son Popes, where a Pope’s legitimate son from his marriage was himself elected Pope. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/6 "2005-04-12T21:03:42Z")
Priests were allowed to be married for about twice as long as they have been required to be celibate. It’s a fairly modern (by church standards) change in the requirements. The requirement of celibacy was only added in the 1200’s-1300’s (it took a while to go into effect everywhere), so it’s only been around for about 700-800 years. So, obviously, a lot of the priests for the first 60% of church history were married. So it’s likely that a fair number of the bishops, cardinals, and popes were married, too. ---
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/7 "2005-04-13T05:57:54Z")
If there is no requirement that the pope be a priest, (which is the way I’m reading the “catholic male” thing) is there a requirement that he be celibate? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/8 "2005-04-13T11:11:15Z")
I just read a loooooooooong somewhat glurgy article in which the priest who authored it cited this book- the [Oxford Dictionary of Popes](http://www.oup.co.uk/isbn/0-19-282085-0) as proof supporting his claim that there have been 37 ( sic ) married Popes since the first Pope. Here is the [article](http://www.rentapriest.com/web/?_p=1018&newsId=25) ( refer to paragraph #2 ). I do not own this book and have no access to it right now, but have no reason to think a footnoted cite would be made up. Plus, this link shows that this book is real, and for sale. I’m guessin’ it exists and does indeed give detailed biographical information on each and every Pope. A bit of a read, but simple enough to prove how many were married, how many sired children ( the two are of course not connected ) and so on. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/9 "2005-04-13T11:14:59Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > The requirement of celibacy was only added in the 1200’s-1300’s (it took a while to go into effect everywhere), so it’s only been around for about 700-800 years. The rumor I heard was that the pope who decreed celibacy did so because his sister refused to marry him. No idea as to the validity of that. ---
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/10 "2005-04-13T15:23:31Z")
That requirement of celibacy is for priests. The pope apparently doesn’t have to be a priest. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/11 "2005-04-13T15:53:05Z")
The Pope does have to be a Bishop though. If they aren’t yet a Bishop when they are elected they are made a Bishop first and then the Pope. Do Bishops have to be celebate? Haj ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/12 "2005-04-13T16:20:23Z")
The Apostolic Constitution, _Universi Dominici Gregis (1996)_ says that a non-Bishop must be ordained Bishop immediately before taking the Papacy, but it does NOT mention any waiver of requirements for becoming a Bishop (Which are contained in the Code of Canon Law, which in turn may not be amended by an _acting_ Apostolic See). The Code of Canon Law does allow the Apostolic See to waive requirements for ordination to Bishop, but it is not clear from the text itself if the requirement that you be a celibate priest would be among those that can be waived even by a sitting Pope, nevermind the Cardinals as acting administration. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/13 "2005-04-13T16:23:19Z")
Oh, and AFAIK, both the Latin AND Eastern Rite require Bishops to be ceibate. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/14 "2005-04-13T16:34:31Z")
heres a list of married popes and popes with children [http://www.rentapriest.com/web/?\_p=1025&newsId=51&title=CATHOLIC%20TRADITION&catId=10](http://www.rentapriest.com/web/?_p=1025&newsId=51&title=CATHOLIC%20TRADITION&catId=10) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/15 "2005-04-13T16:34:56Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > The rumor I heard was that the pope who decreed celibacy did so because his sister refused to marry him. No idea as to the validity of that. Extraordinarily low. As mentioned, the biggest driving force in establishing the rule of celibacy was to ensure that Church lands and properties stayed Church lands and properties, rather than family estates, and to facilitate the Holy See deploying and redeploying priests and bishops wherever it saw fit w/o having to worry about feeding and housing their families. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/16 "2005-04-13T17:19:45Z")
There’s also some good scriptural support for celibacy. Marriage is fine and dandy, but living a celibate life devoted to God alone is praised as the highest virtue. > [@](#): > > If there is no requirement that the pope be a priest, (which is the way I’m reading the “catholic male” thing) is there a requirement that he be celibate? Again, only indirectly. It could change in the future, though it is unlikely for the time being. It may well change one way in the next 500 years, go back in another 1000, and so on. > [@](#): > > The rumor I heard was that the pope who decreed celibacy did so because his sister refused to marry him. No idea as to the validity of that. IIRC, it wasn’t a papal decision, specifically. Something like that requires way, way more than the Pope’s say-so. It had the support of many important speakers and figures in the Churhc at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-married-pope/298942/17 "2005-04-14T01:29:19Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Extraordinarily low. As mentioned, the biggest driving force in establishing the rule of celibacy was to ensure that Church lands and properties stayed Church lands and properties, rather than family estates, and to facilitate the Holy See deploying and redeploying priests and bishops wherever it saw fit w/o having to worry about feeding and housing their families. I agree with JRDelirious – this is pretty much the same logic I’ve heard. There were problems when gifts were given to a local pastor – were these his or the churches? So when he died, did his wife inherit them, or did the church? (Similar problem occurs with many heads of state today. Here in the USA, are gifts given to the President his property or the country’s? We have at least twice passed laws addressing this, and yet it is still a matter of contention when a term ends.) Besides the practical problems JRD mentions in deploying priests (actually, the Holy See doesn’t do that; it’s handled by local bishops, mainly), there’s the problem of providing for wives & children when a priest dies. Either the church has to provide a survivors pension for them, or the priest has to worry about accumulating enough money for that during his lifetime, which would tend to distract from his ministry. It’s interesting that priestly celibacy was instituted for practical, financial reasons. But all the justifications cited for it now always cite moral, biblical reasons.