In the article “With the Stroke of a Pen,” we noted that a Catholic priest admitted that Catholic teaching on celibacy could change with the “Pope’s” permission. Let’s consider-- should that teaching exist today?

Catholicism admits “we do not find in the New Testament any indication of celibacy being made compulsory either upon the Apostles or those whom they ordained…” (www.newadvent.org), yet the Catholic church makes it compulsory for bishops.

Two interesting texts are found in 1 Timothy regarding this question:

• 3:2 “A bishop then must be… the husband of one wife.”
• 4:1,3 “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith… forbidding to marry...”

Not all “forbidding to marry” is wrong. The Bible forbids men to marry men. But the Catholic church says a bishop cannot be the husband of one wife, and the inspired apostle said that a bishop “must be” the husband of one wife. Someone has departed from the faith.

Do you trust the apostle’s pen?