If St Peter the first Pope was married then why are Catholic Priests today are prohibited from getting married?

Answer 1

It is true that even though Saint Peter the first Pope was indeed married, Catholic priests are prohibited from marrying. Based on the words of the apostle, "Master, we have left everything to follow you. What shall be our reward?" (Matthew 19:27), the Catholic Church believes that many of the apostles had indeed been married with families, but that when Jesus invited them to become his followers, they made provisions for their wives' and children's welfare and left everything to follow Him. Not that married men and women cannot be His followers: they can be, and are. The Catholic Church believes that like the early apostles, God calls some members to live out a radical witness to Jesus Christ - to set aside living with a father or a mother, to set aside their hopes for a son, a daughter, husband, wife - and devote themselves to following Him alone, in imitation of the Apostles, many of whom left their homes and families, when the rabbi from Nazareth appeared in their midst and said, "Follow me." The Catholic Church has over the centuries institutionalized this tradition of leaving behind everyone and everything to devote oneself to the service of Jesus Christ. Note Not all rites within the Catholic Church practice celibacy of the clergy. There are a few reasons for the Roman Catholic Church having adopted the practice. For many centuries the Church encouraged, but did not enforce the practice. It was not until there was both danger for the families of the clergy as well as the want to prevent the inheritance of church property and authority from a priest to his children that the church made celibacy compulsory. It should be noted that some Eastern Rites allow their clergy to be married and, in the Roman Rite, a married pastor that converts from another denomination may receive special dispensation to receive ordination as a married man.