married popes

Pope Hormisdas (died 523) was a married pope.
He had a son named Silverius who later also became Pope (died 537).
The Catholic Church has not always had celibate priests, bishops and popes.
For the first thousand years of the Church, celibacy was not required.
There is a great shortage of priests in North America,
but the Catholic Church will not even consider changing the rules
and going back to earlier rules which allowed marriage among the clergy.

Churches are by nature conservative.
They don't change quickly.

I value Tradition and traditions.
I have a conservative streak in me.
However, I also have a liberal streak in me.
The radical nature of the kingdom of God as preached
and demonstrated by Jesus the Galilean
opens me up to change.

On questions of women's rights and gay rights
and scientific advancement
I tend to side with those who take radical stances.

At the same time, I feel the tug of the need to
affirm values from the past that are foundational.
The Bible says both good and bad things about tradition.
Jesus shot down some types of traditions because the traditions
themselves have gone beyond foundational truths.
On the other hand, Paul tells the churches to keep handing on
the traditions that were handed down to him.

I wonder what St. Hormisdas and St. Silverius would think
of the Catholic Church's intransigence today.
Paul said that celibacy is a good idea for some people,
but you have to be 'gifted' to live that way. (see 1 Cor. 7)
Maybe both Catholics and Protestants are imposing celibacy on
the wrong people.