For many years of the Church’s history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed[by whom?], by many that most of the Apostles, such as Peter, were married and had families.
The New Testament, Mark, 1:29 31, Mathew, 8:14 15, Luke, 4:38 39, 1 Timothy 3:2 12, Timothy, 1:6, depicts at least Peter as being married, and bishops, presbyters, and deacons of the Early Church were often married as well.
In epigraphy, the testimony of the Church Fathers, synodal legislation, papal decretals, and other sources [not specific enough to verify] in the following centuries a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a normal feature of the life of the Church.
Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was a discipline that could be practiced in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.
Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area,[1] at the Second Lateran Council (1139), the whole of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church decided to accept people for ordination only after they had taken a promise of celibacy. This applies to the leadership of the Church.
The Apostle Simon Peter
(30, to 33, to 6468)
Mother-in-law is mentioned in the Gospel verses Matthew 8, 14 to 15, Luke 4:38, Mark 1:29 to 31, who was healed by Jesus at her home in Capernaum.
The right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does (Peter). Clement of Alexandria wrote: “When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, Remember the Lord. Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them.”
Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders
Pius II (1458 to 1464)
Not married Yes (had at least two) children, both born before he formally entered the clergy.
The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child, fathered while in Strasbourg with a Breton woman named Elizabeth, died 14 months later.
Delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.
Innocent VIII (1484 to 1492)
Not married Yes (had two) children, Both born before he entered the clergy.
Nepotism is described as “lavish as it was shameless.”
Married elder son Franceschetto Cybo to the daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici, who in return obtained the cardinal’s hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became Pope Leo X.
His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare.
Clement VII (1523 to 1534)
Not married. had a relationship with a slave girl, possibly Simonetta da Collevecchio Yes (one) Identified as Alessandro de’ Medici, Duke of Florence.
Relationships with women
Paul III (1534 to 1549)
Not married. had a relationship with with Silvia Ruffini as a mistress, had three sons and one daughter with her.
Held off ordination in order to continue a promiscuous lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano.
He broke his relations with her in 1513.
He made his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese the first duke of Parma.
Pius IV
(1559 to 1565)
Not married, Allegedly had three children, One was a son born in 1541 or 1542, e also had 2 daughters.
Gregory XIII
(1572 1585)
Was not married. had an Affair with Maddalena Fulchini, and he received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of Giacomo Boncompagni in 1548.
Giacomo remained illegitimate and Gregory later appointed him Gonfalonier of the Church, governor of the Castel Sant’Angelo, as well as governor of Fermo.
Leo XII (1823 to 1829)
was not married, he allegedly As a young prelate was suspected of having had a liaison with the wife of a soldier of Swiss Guard.
As an nuncio in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children with her.
Sergius III (904 to 911)
Not married, had at least one) Accused him by opponents of being the illegitimate father of Pope John XI by Marozia.
Such accusations found in Liutprand of Cremona’s Antapodosis, as well as the Liber Pontificalis.
The accusations are disputed by another early source, the annalist Flodoard, c, 894 to 966): John XI was brother of Alberic II, the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband Alberic I, so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.
Fauvarque emphasizes that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being “prone to exaggeration” while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of Pope Formosus.
John X (914 to 928)
Not married, he had romantic affairs with both Theodora and her daughter Marozia, according to Liutprand of Cremona in his Antapodosis.
John XII (955 to 964)
Not married, No one accused by adversaries of adultery, and incest. Benedict of Soracte noted that he had “a collection of women.” According to Liutprand of Cremona,[28] “they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father’s concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse.” According to Chamberlin, John was “a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held”.
Some sources report that he died 8 days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery, others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.
Alexander VI (1492 to 1503)
Was not married, had relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia Farnese. At least seven, possibly ten children.
Had a long affair with Vannozza dei Cattanei while still a priest and before he became pope. and by her had, his illegitimate children Cesare Borgia, Giovanni Borgia, Gioffre Borgia and Lucrezia.
A later mistress, Giulia Farnese, was the sister of Alessandro Farnese, and she gave birth to a daughter (Laura) while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope.
Alexander fathered at least seven, and possibly as many as ten illegitimate children, and did much to promote his family’s interests, using his offspring to build alliances with a number of important dynasties.
He appointed Giovanni Borgia as Captain-General of the Church and made Cesare a Cardinal of the Church, also creating independent duchies for each of them out of papal lands.
Relationships with men
Paul II (1464 to 1471)
Not married, He was alleged to of having an affair with a page and Thought to have died of indigestion arising from eating melon, though it has been suggested that he died while being sodomized by a page.
Sixtus IV (1471 to 1484)
Not married, According to Stefano Infessura, Sixtus, he was a “lover of boys and sodomites” awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favors, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks.
Infessura had partisan allegiances to the Colonna family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial.
Julius II (1503 to 1513)
Not married had Three ) illegitimate daughters, one of whom was Felice della Rovere (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne).
The schismatic Conciliabulum of Pisa, which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a sodomite.
Noun: sodomite
1. Someone who engages in anal copulation (especially a male who engages in anal copulation with another male)
Leo X (1513 to 1521)
Not married, and was accused, after his death, of homosexuality (by Francesco Guicciardini and Paolo Giovio).
It has been suggested he may have had ulterior motives in offering preferment to Marcantonio Flaminio.
Julius III (1550 to 1555)
Not married and was alleged to of having an affair with Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte.
His long love affair with Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte, which was a cause of a public scandal.
The Venetian ambassador at that time reported that Innocenzo shared the pope’s bed.
Relationships with women and men
Benedict IX (1032, became pope in 1044, again in 1045 and finally 1047 to 1048)
Was not married, Bishop Benno of Piacenza didn’t accuse him of any vile adulteries.” But Pope Victor III referred in his third book of Dialogues to “his rapes … and other unspeakable acts.”
His life prompted Peter Damian to write an extended treatise against illicit sex in general, and homosexuality in particular.
In his Liber Gomorrhianus, Damian accused Benedict IX of routine sodomy and bestiality and sponsoring orgies.
In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married.