Harmful or Benign? Transnational Medical Networks and the Celibacy of Priests

This article investigates the nineteenth‐century debate within transnational medical networks about the physiological effects of celibacy for priests. Many doctors, motivated in part by their animosity towards the C atholic C hurch, argued that the vow of celibacy was not only futile, but responsible for sexual immorality in the church. However, medical opinion was never uniform, and other doctors rallied to the church, defending the celibate vow as largely benign. Both sides shared a willingness to look abroad for support and inspiration. This article investigates this debate as a transnational phenomenon, as key texts were translated and published across E urope and N orth A merica, and as several notorious case‐studies emerged to form the focus of international controversy

Celibacy · Epistemology · Immorality · Morality · Phenomenon · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religious studies · Religious Studies

• Beyond Narratives of Conflict. Modern Medicine, Reproduction and Catholicism in Contemporary Historiography

  Open Access•Kaat Wils, Emmanuel Betta et al.•Journal of Religious History•2022

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