Could a married non-Latin Rite priest become Pope?

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If a married priest converts to Catholicism from a non-Catholic Christian denomination, and he joins a non-Latin Rite tradition, once he becomes a Cardinal is it possible for him to be elected Pope? If not, why not. Just curious. Thanks! And God bless!
 
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RaisedCatholic said:
If a married priest converts to Catholicism from a non-Catholic Christian denomination, and he joins a non-Latin Rite tradition, once he becomes a Cardinal is it possible for him to be elected Pope? If not, why not. Just curious. Thanks! And God bless!
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No, because he would have to be ordained a bishop, and bishops must be unmarried. I believe this is true for both Latin and Eastern rites.
 
Off the top of my head -
I would say no.
Reasons:-
  1. Tradition .
  2. Even if at some point in time changes are made and a married Cardinal is one of the electors again I would say it is not definite - it depends on the other Cardinals voting if they’ve gotten the 2/3 of votes, and then if they accept.
Just my opinion.

How is a new Pope chosen?
 
Fauken said:
, and bishops must be unmarried.
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That’s more “shall” than “must”.

Both east and west switched to unmarried (or widowed) bishops in the second century, partly from the tendency to choose monastics, but more importantly over inheritance issues. It’s an issue of discipline, rather than dogma.

That said, it has been many centuries since anyone not already a bishop was elected bishop of Rome. While it used to be quite common to elect a deacon, particularly the head deacon of Rome, it has, again, been a very long time . . .

So the answer is, “yes, he could be elected, but neither he nor any other non-bishop has any realistic probability of being elected.”

(then again, there’s the hysterical movie, “The Pope Must Die(T)”, in which a mob scheme to select a compliant cardinal goes bad due to a a nearly deaf secretary cardinal, placing a bumbling fat rural priest on the throne . . .)

hawk
 
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Yes, it would be possible for him to be elected pope. It would, however, be extremely unlikely to happen in reality.
 
dochawk said:
(then again, there’s the hysterical movie, “The Pope Must Die(T)”, in which a mob scheme to select a compliant cardinal goes bad due to a a nearly deaf secretary cardinal, placing a bumbling fat rural priest on the throne . . .)
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😄 Never heard of it. I’ll have to look it up. Religious comedies can be some of the funniest ones.
 
RaisedCatholic said:
If a married priest converts to Catholicism from a non-Catholic Christian denomination, and he joins a non-Latin Rite tradition, once he becomes a Cardinal is it possible for him to be elected Pope? If not, why not. Just curious. Thanks! And God bless!
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No because the pope must be a bishop and it is the praxis of both East and West that bishops be unmarried.

Whilst the cardinals do elect one of their number as pope this is not a requirement; it is simply what has happened for a long time. You do not have to be a cardinal to be elected as the pope.
 
TomH1 said:
No because the pope must be a bishop and it is the praxis of both East and West that bishops be unmarried.
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On paper, not even that. An adult male baptized Catholic is the only formal requirement. You could be next! Have you decided on a name yet?
 
BartholomewB said:
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IdaCatholic:
Perhaps if he were the last man on earth.
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Elected by a conclave of ghosts?
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Elected by the Church, which at that point would consist of women and children (and apparently, one priest).
 
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babochka said:
Elected by the Church, which at that point would consist of women and children and (apparently, one priest).
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We’d be doomed then, since there’d be no bishop to ordain that priest to the episcopate.
 
Fauken said:
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babochka:
Elected by the Church, which at that point would consist of women and children and (apparently, one priest).
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We’d be doomed then, since there’d be no bishop to ordain that priest to the episcopate.
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Maybe the priest is already a bishop because another bishop, foreseeing his own demise and that of all the men of the Church, secretly and illicitly ordained him a bishop. It could happen. You never know.
 
TomH1 said:
No because the pope must be a bishop
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No, that isn’t correct.

The bishop of Rome is automatically the pope; it is not a separate office with its own requirements.

The rules for conclaves explicitly provide for the possibility of the election of a non-bishop, and call for his consecration on the spot if he accepts.

Rome is the only episcipol see for which a married man could be chosen and installed; it has its own, detailed, rules instead of those that apply to all of the other sees (and, again, it just ain’t going to happen).
 
babochka said:
Maybe the priest is already a bishop because another bishop, foreseeing his own demise and that of all the men of the Church, secretly and illicitly ordained him a bishop. It could happen. You never know.
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Then he’s not a priest. He’s a bishop.
 
Fauken said:
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babochka:
Maybe the priest is already a bishop because another bishop, foreseeing his own demise and that of all the men of the Church, secretly and illicitly ordained him a bishop. It could happen. You never know.
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Then he’s not a priest. He’s a bishop.
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Every bishop is a priest.
 
Fauken said:
No, because he would have to be ordained a bishop, and bishops must be unmarried. I believe this is true for both Latin and Eastern rites.
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It has been the practice of both Latin and Eastern rites, but there is nothing in sacramental theology (of which I am aware) that says a married man cannot validly be consecrated a bishop. Bishop Salomao Ferraz was a validly consecrated bishop who returned to the Church, yet was married. I do not know whether he was married before he was consecrated, but I would assume he was.

 
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