text: why does it matter if priests are celibate? it certainly isn't unhuman to have sex.  why is it unholy?  does that mean being holy is unhuman? celibacy is defined as not only "abstinence from sexual intercourse, especially by reason of religious vows" but also is "the condition of being unmarried." so i don't think it's about declaring the sex is unholy/unhuman but rather about a "voluntary refusal to enter the married state".  in 1 corinthians 7:32-34a it says that "i would like you to be free from concern. an unmarried man is concerned about the lord's affairs—how he can please the lord. but a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife—and his interests are divided."  i think that the reason for celibacy as it is stated in the previous passage that getting married forces you to balance two things, your relationship with god and your wife (i'm sure this is a universal truth that all married men understand how demanding a wife can be). however, it doesn't necessarily imply that priests shouldn't be married.