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List of sexually active popes

This is a list of sexually active popes, Catholic priests who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly sexually active before their election as pope, and others were accused of being sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had offspring.

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by political opponents and being contested by modern historians.

Background

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed by many that most of the Twelve Apostles were married and had families. The New Testament (Mark 1:29–31; Matthew 8:14–15; Luke 4:38–39; 1 Timothy 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6) depicts at least Peter as being married, and bishops, priests and deacons of the Early Church were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the Church Fathers, synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular area, the Second Lateran Council (1139) made the promise to remain celibate a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood in the Latin Church. Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bond of matrimony and each sexual act thus committed considered a mortal sin.