Some event recently inspired me to duckduckgo political system in Vatican. And Vatican is elective monarchy. And most often elective monarchies gradually become inheritable monarchies. But Vatican for some reason kept their status for millennials. :) So I believe political reasons are somewhere in this direction for priests and their fortune. However there are also some theological reasons for this decision in church.

Priests having female housekeepers is still very common. Because men back then did not know how to take care of themselves. And some still do not. It was common for them to take their sisters as housekeepers just to avoid rumors. Or young priests purposely have housekeepers that are really old.

So by not denying in some occasions they were living as a couple, this was never the default. But yes rumors were and still are the default.

I am! I cooked two awesome meals and helped my wife finally migrate to linux.

ntfy.sh