Originally posted by Conrau K
As I said earlier, there are married Catholic priests. Mandatory clerical celibacy is a matter of discipline; it is not doctrinal. Certainly no one is forbidden from marrying. For those priests who decide that the priesthood is no longer their vocation, they are permitted to leave the priesthood and marry.
In reality Conrau what you did was to produce a list of provisos and exceptions to the norm, Eastern Catholic, Anglicans who associate themselves with Catholicism, those who were married prior to ordination etc etc . Is it true or is it not true that the Roman Catholic church forbids its priesthood to marry, or how are we to understand theses statements
Throughout the Catholic Church, East as well as West, a priest may not marry. To become a married priest, one must therefore marry before being ordained.
The Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, without exception, rule out ordination of married men to the episcopate.
The law of clerical celibacy is considered to be not a doctrine, but a discipline. Exceptions are sometimes made, especially in the case of Protestant clergymen who convert to the Catholic Church, and the discipline could in theory be changed for all ordinations to the priesthood.
source wikipedia
whether its a doctrine or a discipline, is neither here nor there, its what it has resulted in, its outworking so to speak, which is the real testing of its effect, regardless of what it is termed and is our focus of concern.