You are correct that the character qualifications can be ignored by anyone. In Catholicism, they are generally ALWAYS ignored (the notable acceptance of clergy from other denominations is the only exception I'm aware of).Hello imscoop22,
I can’t imagine where one would look to substantiate the claim that the Catholic Church “ALWAYS” ignored the qualifications listed for bishops. The Church certainly places an importance on all of these qualities:
...sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
Here is a link to a site that explains the process.
https://www.simplycatholic.com/selecting-bishops/A celibate priest or bishop cannot, by definition, meet those qualifications.He may certainly meet all of them except those that pertain to a married man. The requirement is for “one wife”, which is the Christian norm. It does not insist that an unmarried man can not be a bishop or a priest. And, in point of fact, the Catholic Church does have married priests and not just converts.
I would suggest that it would be quite a slanderous thing to insist that the Church simply ignores all of the qualifications simply because of specific issues surrounding marriage. You certainly don’t mean to suggest that the Church encourages drunk, inhospitable, violent money grubbing reprobates to become bishops?
SDS
