Catholic Priests must be unmarried, male and willing to remain celibate. The origins of the vow of celibacy are unclear. The vow has been mandatory in the church since the 11th century. The first Pope, St. Peter was married and up until the 12th century there was abundance of married priests.
Pope Francis in 2010 commented on the vow stating, that celibacy "is a matter of discipline, not of faith. It can change" but added: "For the moment, I am in favor of maintaining celibacy, with all its pros and cons, because we have ten centuries of good experiences rather than failures.... Tradition has weight and validity."