It would be odd if the pope had had children or sex outside of marraige; however the Church is all about repentance and forgiveness;
Now that you mention that the Church is about repentance and forgiveness I remember the child molesters. I think that some of the child molesters may have repented and confessed and were forgiven. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the deviation or the persistence of the illness, and the ignorance of the world in general about molesters and their tendency to strike again; the molesters hurt more people*. These considerations make me think of two realms, the spirit and the world in which we live.
Their sins may have very well been forgiven but, they still need to live in this world and the authorities need to be responsible. Maybe some priests and bishops found themselves in the dilema of; if Our Lord Jesus has forgiven them why must the world punish them (this of course under the ignorance of the persistence of the psychological make up of molesters which was the case up until a couple of decades ago)? HIstorically, many people who have repented have confessed to murder/s and have been forgiven and they were not reported to the authorities. Of course, not all may have been forgiven if they were not truly repentant. This all just makes me consider how the two realms (?) come together. Definately we have a responsibility here on earth and I think laws must be abided. It’s like what Socrates said about how he was willing to die to respect the authorities of Athens who maintained the order of the society. He said that something to the effect that he was born and raised in the Athenian society and so were his children who are being raised and taken care of by the society. So, we need to be responsible here and take due deligence.
So, if there was such a discipline that the Popes are to be virgins, I would think measures would be taken to assure this is the case to prevent scandal and disturbance of the faithfuls. I guess this is why no measures are taken, because it appears not to be a discipline. I just thought that the conclave would function in such a way as to assure the elimination to the papacy of cardinals that would bring scandal, but, there seems to be no measures taken.
Actually, I thought that cardinals eliminated themselves at the conclave for certain reasons. But, this is not the case. I understand the Holy Spirit calls the Pope but, again, I seems to me that we need to be responsible here. It’s like when Satan asked Jesus to jump from the mountain, we cannot just stay with arms folded because the Holy Spirit will take care of everything and assure that all goes well. True, the election of the Pope and Cardinals and Bishops are certainly better and they are not drawing lots like the apostles did, but, it just seems to me that more could be done. For instance, to give the Cardinals the opportunity to eliminate themselves at the conclave or something to this matter.
I am just thinking out loud…
Any considerations or thoughts?
however living in the practical world; it would be unlikely that someone who had sex outside of wedlock would become pope … wheras it would be surprising if someone who had out-of-wedlock sex were to become Pope in this day and age.
There is no requirement. Although it would be surprising unless the person was a widower.
Why?
- I am still trying to conceive of the other matter aside from ignorance of the psychological make up of molester; that being; cover- up. I have difficulties understanding how some priests or bishops could after understanding the persistence of molesters tranfer them to a parish and put at risk the children of the parish. I have come to understand the attempt to prevent scandal and I think that is fine as long as people were not put at risk. I guess even sending them to a monastery was dangerous because monks were molested. A tragic chapter in the history of the Church.
P.s. Sorry about the ‘have’ instead of ‘has’ on the title of the thread.
If someone could change it, I would appreciate it.
