Married Popes?

We read in Matthew 8:14 "When Jesus came into Peter's house, He saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever". This gospel alludes to the fact that the apostle Peter had a mother-in-law, which means of course that he was a married man.  Thus it came about that the first pope was a married man.  And that first pope was not elected by a college of cardinals but was personally chosen by Jesus Christ Himself! In fact, for at least the first 200 years of Christianity, married priest and bishops seem to have been the rule.  Indeed, when it came to the pastoral service of the local Churches (as opposed to the evangelizing ministry of the itinerant missionaries like the apostle Paul), the natural leader of the community was the married man, as we can surmise from Paul’s instructions to Timothy regarding the qualities he should look for in appointing bishops (1 Tm 3,2-4) and deacons (1 Tm, 3,12).  This situation was questioned only gradually for various reasons.  One of these derived from a distorted       notion of the marriage union as being somehow incompatible with the celebration of the Eucharist, as if the martial act was slightly dirty or sinful - an idea which borders on heresy.  Another reason involved Church property.  A priest, having children to take care of and whose future he had to ensure was easily suspected of using church funds and church property for that purpose.  At any rate, clerical celibacy was enforced throughout the Latin Church only by the First Lateran Council in 1123.  However the Oriental Churches have kept a married clergy up to this day. All this to say that what was once the common practice of the Church can be adopted anew.   Since vocations to the celibate priesthood seem to be dwindling throughout the world in general, the pastoral needs of the Church might dictate a change in the present regulation.  This would not solve all problems, of course, but it might prove advantageous in many respects.  For example, perhaps a married clergy would be better  able to understand and sympathize with the situation of married couples. Let us pray for God’s guidance on this delicate issue.  Let us pray for  our Church leaders so that they may see whether or not new decisions should be made.