Clergy

=== Catholic Church ===
{{Catholic Church hierarchy sidebar}}
{{See also|Bishops in the Catholic Church|Priesthood in the Catholic Church|Deacon}}
[[File:Archbishop Jose Palma delivering his homily.jpg|thumb|left|[[Archbishop]] [[Jose S. Palma]] with his assistant ministers during [[Pontifical High Mass]]]]
[[File:Koorkledij (vlnr Jean-Pierre Delville-Franco Coppola-Jozef De Kesel - Guy Harpigny).jpg|thumb|left|[[Bishop (Catholic Church)|Bishop]] [[Jean-Pierre Delville]], [[nuncio]] [[Franco Coppola]], [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] [[Jozef De Kesel]], [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|Bishop]] [[Guy Harpigny]]]]
[[Holy Orders|Ordained]] clergy in the [[Catholic Church]] are either deacons, priests, or bishops belonging to the diaconate, the presbyterate, or the episcopate, respectively. Among bishops, some are [[metropolitan bishop|metropolitans]], [[archbishop]]s, or [[patriarch]]s. The [[pope]] is the [[bishop of Rome]], the supreme and universal hierarch of the Church, and his authorization is now required for the ordination of all Roman Catholic bishops. With rare exceptions, [[cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinals]] are bishops, although it was not always so; formerly, some cardinals were people who had received [[clerical tonsure]], but not [[Holy Orders (Catholic Church)|Holy Orders]]. [[Secular clergy]] are ministers, such as deacons and priests, who do not belong to a religious institute and live in the world at large, rather than a religious institute ([[Secular institute|''saeculum'']]). The [[Holy See]] supports the activity of its clergy by the [[Congregation for the Clergy]] ([https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/]), a [[dicastery]] of [[Roman curia]].

[[Canon law (Catholic Church)|Canon Law]] indicates (canon 207) that "[b]y divine institution, there are among the Christian faithful in the Church sacred ministers who in law are also called clerics; the other members of the Christian faithful are called lay persons".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PT.HTM |title=Code of Canon Law, Canon 207 |access-date=25 November 2011 |archive-date=12 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312112835/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PT.HTM |url-status=live }}</ref> This distinction of a separate ministry was formed in the early times of Christianity; one early source reflecting this distinction, with the three ranks or orders of [[bishop (Catholic Church)|bishop]], [[presbyter|priest]] and [[deacon]], is the writings of Saint [[Ignatius of Antioch]].

Holy Orders is one of the [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|Seven Sacraments]], enumerated at the [[Council of Trent]], that the Magisterium considers to be of divine institution. In the Catholic Church, only men are permitted to be clerics.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

In the [[Latin Church]] before 1972, [[tonsure]] admitted someone to the clerical state, after which he could receive the four [[minor orders]] (ostiary, lectorate, order of exorcists, order of acolytes) and then the [[major orders]] of [[subdeacon|subdiaconate]], diaconate, presbyterate, and finally the episcopate, which according to Roman Catholic doctrine is "the fullness of Holy Orders". Since 1972 the minor orders and the subdiaconate have been replaced by [[Catholic ministry|lay ministries]] and clerical tonsure no longer takes place, except in some [[Traditionalist Catholic]] groups, and the clerical state is acquired, even in those groups, by Holy Orders.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19720815_ministeria-quaedam_lt.html|title=Ministeria quaedam - Disciplina circa Primam Tonsuram, Ordines Minores et Subdiaconatus in Ecclesia Latina innovatur, Litterae Apostolicae Motu Proprio datae, Die 15 m. Augusti a. 1972, Paulus PP.VI - Paulus PP. VI|website=The Holy See|access-date=2020-03-15|archive-date=2011-11-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103110807/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19720815_ministeria-quaedam_lt.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In the Latin Church the initial level of the three ranks of Holy Orders is that of the diaconate. In addition to these three orders of clerics, some [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholic]], or "Uniate", Churches have what are called "minor clerics".<ref name="vatican.va">{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19901018_codex-can-eccl-orient-1_lt.html#TITULUS_X|title=Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum orientalium, die XVIII Octobris anno MCMXC - Ioannes Paulus PP. II - Ioannes Paulus II|website=The Holy See|access-date=2020-03-15|archive-date=2011-06-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604154301/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19901018_codex-can-eccl-orient-1_lt.html#TITULUS_X|url-status=live}}</ref>

Members of [[institute of consecrated life|institutes of consecrated life]] and [[society of apostolic life|societies of apostolic life]] are clerics only if they have received Holy Orders. Thus, unordained monks, [[friar]]s, [[nun]]s, and religious brothers and [[Nun#Distinction between a nun and a religious sister|sister]]s are not part of the clergy.

The Code of Canon Law and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches prescribe that every cleric must be enrolled or "[[incardination and excardination|incardinated]]" in a [[diocese]] or its equivalent (an [[apostolic vicariate]], [[territorial abbey]], [[personal prelature]], etc.) or in a [[religious institute]], [[society of apostolic life]] or [[secular institute]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PX.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law - IntraText|website=The Holy See|access-date=2020-03-15|archive-date=2021-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125062626/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PX.HTM|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="vatican.va"/> The need for this requirement arose because of the trouble caused from the earliest years of the Church by unattached or vagrant clergy subject to no ecclesiastical authority and often causing scandal wherever they went.<ref>John P. Beal, James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green, ''New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law'' (Paulist Press 2002 {{ISBN|9780809140664}}), p. 329</ref>

Current canon law prescribes that to be ordained a priest, an education is required of two years of [[philosophy]] and four of [[theology]], including study of dogmatic and moral theology, the Holy Scriptures, and canon law have to be studied within a [[seminary]] or an ecclesiastical faculty at a university.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PW.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law - IntraText|website=The Holy See|access-date=2020-03-15|archive-date=2011-05-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110508022209/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PW.HTM|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19901018_codex-can-eccl-orient-1_lt.html#TITULUS_X |title=Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canons 342-356 |access-date=2020-03-15 |archive-date=2011-06-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604154301/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19901018_codex-can-eccl-orient-1_lt.html#TITULUS_X |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Clerical celibacy]] is a requirement for almost all clergy in the predominant Latin Church, with the exception of deacons who do not intend to become priests. Exceptions are sometimes admitted for ordination to transitional diaconate and priesthood on a case-by-case basis for married clergymen of other churches or communities who become Catholics, but consecration of already married men as [[bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]] is excluded in both the Latin and [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] (see [[Personal ordinariate#Married former Anglican clergy and rules on celibacy|personal ordinariate]]). [[Clerical marriage]] is not allowed and therefore, if those for whom in some [[particular Church]] celibacy is optional (such as permanent deacons in the Latin Church) wish to marry, they must do so before ordination. Eastern Catholic Churches while allowing married men to be ordained, do not allow [[clerical marriage]] after ordination: their [[parish priest]]s are often married, but must marry before being ordained to the priesthood.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Rusyn-Ukrainians of Czechoslovakia: An Historical Survey| first= W. |last=W. Braumüller|year= 2006| isbn=9783700303121| page =17 |publisher=University of Michigan Press|quote= }}</ref> [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] require celibacy only for bishops.