Why can't the Pope be married?

Answer 1

Certain rites in the Catholic Church allow priests to be married. Married priests were men who got married before being candidates for the priesthood, for once a priest, the man is not permitted to marry. There is a restriction put on married priest, for they are not promoted to the episcopacy. The pope is a bishop and so he would never have a wife.

Celibacy is a sacrifice. Any man beginning the path towards ordination knows this is asked of him. The reason bishops of the Church are not allowed to marry is because they are metaphorically married to the Church, the bride of Christ and spend all their time and energies in Its service. Priests in general, if it is not a precept of their rite, are encouraged to be chaste and celibate that they might offer their bodies and time solely to God. A celibate priesthood is firmly founded in Catholic tradition, beginning with Its founder, Jesus Christ, who never married. In the 2nd century evidence of this tradition is already apparent as the Apostolic Constitutions gave the law, "If a priest or deacon is not already married, he can never contract marriage." Also, the priesthood is symbolically always ready for the Second-Coming of Christ and so does not engage in even permissible activities for the children of this world. Many of the reasons priests do not marry are also practical. It allows them to set a moral example when preaching chastity to as yet unmarried youth since he shows it is possible through his own life, he is unhampered by domestic cares so that he may better serve the altar and parish, being able to dispense the sacraments to the sick and dying without worry he shall bring home contagion to a family and he inspires confidence in the confessional since he has no one at home he might be tempted to tell. All these reasons apply even more to the pope, who is the servant of the servants of God, and whose time is given solely to God's children.

Answer 2

1.) Popes are always male who are incapable of having children.

2.) Priests, including popes, do not marry.

3.) It is possible that a pope could have children. If they were married and their wife died before they became a priest they may have had children before becoming a pope. This has happened in the Catholic Church in the earlier Church.

4.) If you go back far enough, there were some really crummy corrupt "popes" during the time when the papacy was essentially controlled by the noble houses who didn't exactly honor the office; there's considerable evidence that some of them may have had illegitimate children while serving as pope.

Answer 3

The Catholic Church currently does not allow a married clergy, except in a few specific cases. Therefore, the pope does not marry nor have children. He is fully capable of siring children but, because of his vocation, chooses not to.