Quote (gnarjay @ Aug 30 2024 03:48pm)
it never made sense to me why priests arent allowed to have families. that in itself, IMO, would curb a lot of the weird abuse that goes on
My understanding is that they are supposed to detach themselves from worldly desires such as having a family, belongings, property etc. and devote themselves wholly to service.
It really would alleviate alot of the problems, we know that people are driven by incentives, so men who have a proclivity towards young boys will often see becoming a priest as a socially acceptable way of not being interested in women, which is why so many priests are pederasts.
On top of that if the priests aren't paedos they often still indulge in worldly desires, amassing wealth and prestige, and giving special treatment to their family members (where nepotism comes from, since they don't have sons they instead enrich their nephews). My view is that, given that humans are corrupt by nature, it's not even possible to have a priest who is wholly worthy of the title and elevation above the common man. It's a remnant from the tradition of the Pharisees and the old Roman religion, where the Pope still uses the pagan title of
Pontifex Maximus