Catholic Priests facts

While investigating facts about Catholic Priests Database and Catholic Priests Accused List, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The Catholic Church has a zero-tolerance policy on revealing confessions. If a Catholic priest reveals anything someone confessed to him, he is automatically excommunicated and can only be forgiven by the Pope.

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JRR Tolkien initially fell in love with his future wife at 16 years old. His guardian, a catholic priest ordered him to not have any contact until he was 21. He obeyed and met her under a railroad viaduct and she broke up her engagement, converted to Catholicism and married Tolkien.

What catholic priests do?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what three vows do catholic priests take. Here are 50 of the best facts about Catholic Priests Married and Catholic Priests Accused I managed to collect.

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A Catholic Priest in Brazil tried to raise money for charity by taking to the sky strapped to a chair and 1,000 helium balloons, got to 20,000 feet and then realized he didn't know how to use his GPS, went missing, and two months later was found dead 100km out to sea.
John Geoghan, the Catholic priest who sexually abused over 130 children and was a central figure in the Best Picture winner Spotlight, was strangled and stomped to death in prison by a self-described white supremacist serving a life sentence for murder.
The Big Bang was initially rejected as a theory of the universe because of its "religious" implications and its origins; the originator of the theory was a Catholic priest.
A Catholic priest was strangled and stomped to death while serving a prison sentence for sexually molesting over 130 children in the Boston area.
If a Catholic priest reveals anything someone confessed to him for any reason at all, he is automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church and can only be forgiven by the Pope.
In the 1700s the Catholic Church was so adamant that suicide would send you to Hell that suicidal christians murdered innocent children instead. The child would go to heaven, and the person would be executed for murder. They would be able to repent their sin to a priest shortly before execution.
The Big Bang Theory was actually first theorized by a Catholic priest.
"Nacho Libre" was based upon a Catholic priest turned luchador who called himself "Fray Tormenta" (Friar Storm); he supported an orphanage for 23 years with his second career.
A Catholic priest was kidnapped and castrated by KKK members, including the Gainesville mayor and police chief, at the University of Florida in 1924
If you confess you murdered someone to a priest, your secret is protected by Catholic law

catholic priests facts — What percentage of catholic priests are predators?

Why catholic priests don't marry?

You can easily fact check why catholic priests can't marry by examining the linked well-known sources.

The Catholic Church never taught against evolution or the big bang. In fact, the first to propose the theory of the expansion of the universe (Georges Lemaître) and founder of the science of genetics (Gregor Mendel) which explains the mechanism behind evolution were both Catholic priests.

J.R.R. Tolkien opposed holding Catholic mass in English - to the extent that he loudly responded in Latin whenever priests spoke the liturgy in English. - source

At University Florida in 1924, a Catholic priest was kidnapped and castrated by KKK members, including the Gainesville mayor and police chief - source

Mary MacKillop was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1871 after reporting a priest for sexually abusing children. 139 years later she was declared a saint by Pope Benedict XVI.

The person who came up with the Big Bang Theory was a Catholic priest named Georges Lemaître. - source

When catholic priests could marry?

Anneliese Michel was a German woman who underwent Catholic exorcism rites in 1975 and died the next year, due to lack of medical care. Later investigation determined that she was malnourished and dehydrated; her parents and the priests responsible were charged with negligent homicide.

How many catholic priests have been accused?

Georges Lemaître, the first scientist to theorise the Big Bang, was a Catholic Priest.

About Maximilian Kolbe, a Catholic priest during WW2. He was taken to Auschwitz where he later took the place of a stranger. Kolbe was starved for two weeks and then killed by an injection of carbolic acid.

Conan O'Brien was the victim of stalking and death threats and that the man who stalked and threatened him was an ordained Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Boston. The man signed his letters to O'Brien as "your priest stalker".

A Catholic priest named Michael Clegg first began distributing ecstasy and at its peak he was delivering 500,000 pills to the Dallas area per month.

When catholic priests were allowed to marry?

There are married Roman Catholic priests; there are about 80. In almost all the cases, the priests were married before they joined the Catholic church. Once they converted to Catholicism, they remained married and their vows are recognized by the Vatican.

With a population of under 1000, Vatican City has a national football team consisting entirely from employees of the Vatican. In 2011 they faced Palestine where they fielded an entire squad of Catholic priests, Palestine beat them 9-1.

Chris Farley named his Matt Foley character after a friend who for a time lived in a van by a river. Matt is now a Catholic priest in Chicago.

You cannot become an ordained Catholic priest if, among other things, you do not have hands or are gluten intolerant.

In 1921, a Catholic priest was murdered by a Klansman for performing an interracial marriage.

How much do catholic priests make?

Back in the 90s an ex priest in charge of rehabilitating them worked out that half of catholic priests were not actually celibate and that 3 in every 50 where pedophiles.

George’s Lemaître, a Belgian Roman Catholic priest, physicist and astronomer is credited with the first formulation of an expanding universe idea, what was to become the Big Bang theory.

Jack Black's character in Nacho Libre is loosely based on Sergio Gutiérrez Benítez - a Catholic priest who became the luchador "Fray Tormenta" and used the earnings to support his orphanage.

Spallanzani, an Italian Catholic priest and biologist was one of the first to disprove abiogenesis (life from non-life) by using tight fitted pants on male frogs which lead to failure to copulate and thus failure to reproduce.

When Catholics were persecuted in England in the 1500s, priests holding secret masses would hide from search parties in "priest holes," secret chambers within the house. As searches could last week, sometimes the priests starved or asphyxiated.

The Big Bang Theory was originated by a Belgian Catholic priest, Georges Lemaitre.

In 1858 a 6-year-old Jewish boy who had been secretly baptized by a Christian servant girl was forcibly taken from his parents since it was illegal for non-Catholics to raise Catholic children. The boy was adopted by Pope Pius IX, became a priest, and toured Europe trying to convert Jews.

Levar Burton (Geordi Laforge from Star Trek: The Next Generation) originally attended a Catholic seminary in order to become a priest but changed his mind after having doubts about the Catholic religion.

For the 3400+ sex abuse cases against the Catholic Church, the Church has defrocked and punished as many priests, effectively removing all abusers that have been accused and currently working on removing those who tried to cover it up

It wasn't one but THREE Catholic priests on the Titanic, Father Juozas Montvila of Lithuania, Father Josef Peruschitz, O.S.B. of Bavaria, and English Father Thomas Byles, and all three stayed onboard to hear confessions and give absolution to the people left on the ship.

To avoid capture and persecution in England in the 16th century, Catholic priests would hide in "priest holes" - secret spaces in many homes that were constructed to hide a priest during a search. Sometimes the priest would die from starvation or asphyxiation.

Because the host is so important during Catholic communion, if it falls on the ground, the priest or deacon must eat it right away. If it's too dirty, it is protected until the end of mass in white linen, then dissolved in water and poured directly onto the Earth so it will not go to the sewer.

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