Does the Catholic Church Teach Pedophilia?

We know Muslims have no real issue with child marriage.

But we know Catholics are supposed to (1) obey the Church and (2) imitate the saints.

OBEY THE CHURCH

Check the 1983 Code of Canon Law.  Canon 1083 currently sets the age of marriage as 16 years of age for boys and 14 years of age for girls. This maintains the ages set in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, Canon 1067. But, the 1917 code was a change from the pre-1917 code, which set the canonical ages of marriage at twelve for both ages (younger marriage was possible if the spouse had entered puberty). And for most of the Church's history, one could be betrothed to marriage by the age of seven, although younger betrothals were not uncommon. 

St. John Chrysostom (a Doctor of the Church) said young men should marry as soon as possible (before they turn 20), to keep them out of the whore houses and theaters.

Now, Catholics typically want their children baptized as infants (as early as possible), given first  Reconciliation and first Eucharist by age 7 (as early as possible), many Catholics want their children to be confirmed as early as possible (also age 7). 

For most of the Church's history, the canonical age for minor orders was seven to twelve. But, the canonical age for major orders was quite different: twenty-two for Subdeaconship, twenty-three for Deaconship, and twenty-five for the Priesthood, but there were exceptions. Pope John XI was perhaps twenty-three or twenty-four, and Pope John XII was not yet twenty-two. Reception into a monastery or convent was generally prohibited before age 15. 

The canonical age for Holy Orders is currently 25. Currently, a religious must be 21 in order to make final vows.

However, the canonical age for Holy Matrimony is 14 for women, 16 for men. So, why is marriage the only sacrament no one wants their children to receive at canonical age? 

Remember, Chesterton said tradition was allowing the dead to have a vote. Well, traditionally, the age of marriage was at minimum around 10 or 12. So, if you are a Chestertonian, you should support marriage at that age, right? 

And, remember, Chesterton was born in 1874. In an era when most people didn't know their exact birth date in the first place, British common law allowed girls to marry at 12 and boys at 14. In 1929, just seven years before Chesterton's death, the minimum age for a girl's marriage was set to 14 years (in India), 16 years (in England) and that for boys was fixed at 18 years.

Chesterton died in 1936. So, for most of Chesterton's life, the legal age of marriage for both the Church and the culture he lived in was 12 for girls, 14 for boys.  Chesterton would have had ZERO problem with a 12-year old woman marrying and consummating the marriage.

IMITATE THE SAINTS

    Betrothed at Age 10    

• In Confessions (Books 2 and 6), St. Augustine said his saintly mother had arranged for him to marry a 10-year-old girl when she became of legal age (i.e., 12). He was 30 years old at the time. He had been having sex since he was at least 16 (marriageable age was 12 for men too). He notes that his mother, St. Monica, could have arranged a marriage for him earlier to give him a legitimate outlet for his sexual urges, but she feared that marriage at that time would hurt his chances for a successful career.

    Married at Age 11

• Saint Frances of Rome, born 1384, married 1396, bore six children, 

    Married at Age 12

• The Blessed Virgin is assumed to have been about 12 to 14 when she got pregnant with Jesus. 
• Saint Godeleva married "very young"
• St. Rita married at age 12, bore two children
• Blessed Michelina of Pesaro, married age 12, bore one son, Pardino.
• Saint Frances of Rome, born 1384, married 1396 at age 12, bore three children.
• Blessed Jadwiga (aka Hedwig, Polish queen), born 1374, married 1386 at age 12, bore seven children
• Saint Hedwig of Silesia, born 1174, married 1186 at age 12. Her husband was between 16 and 21.
• Saint Joan of France, born April 23, 1464, married Sept 8, 1476 at age 12. Her groom was age 14.
• Marianne Frances, daughter of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (d. 1641), married at the age of 12 to a 16-year old groom with her saintly mother's approval. 
• Blessed Thomas Percy, born 1528, married "at the age of eligibility" (i.e., 12 years old) to Anne Somerset. They had four children.
• Saint Elizabeth of Portugal married 20-year old King Dinis. She bore him a child at age 19.

    Married at Age 13

• Saint Melania the Younger, born 383, married 396 at age 13, bore two children. Her husband was 17.

    Married at Age 14

• Saint Kinga, born 1234, married 1248 at age 14.
• Blessed Mary of Oignies, married at age 14, never consummated.
• Saint Catherine of Vadstena, born 1331, married 1345 at age 14, never consummated.
• Saint Matilda, born 895, married 909 at age 14. Bore four children.
• Saint Bridget of Sweden, born 1303, married 1316, at age 13, consummated marriage 1317 at age 14, bore eight children, including St. Catherine of Sweden.
• Saint Elzear and Blessed Delphina.  Elzear was born 1285, Delphina 1282, married 1299, at ages 14 and 17 respectively.
• Saint Philip Howard, born 1557, married at 14 to Anne Dacre
• St. Elizabeth of Hungary married at age 14 to 21-year old Louis (Ludwig IV) Landgrave of Thuringia, and had her first child at age 15.

    Married at Age 15

• Edward Longshanks married at 15 to his 13-year old second cousin, Eleanor of Castile. They had 14 children. 
• Saint Joachima de Mas y de Vedruna, born April 16, 1783, married March 24, 1799 at age 15, mother of nine children.
• Saint Paula of Rome, born 357, married 372 at age 15 to a Roman senator, mother of five children.
• Blessed Virginia Centurione, born 1587, married at age 15 
• Saint Catherine of Genoa, born April 15, 1447, married January 13, 1463 at age 15.
• Blessed Seraphina, born 1434, married 1448 at age 15.
• Blessed Umiliana Cerchi, born 1219, married at age 15.
• Blessed Aleth and Tescelin, married at 15, had seven children (including St. Bernard of Clairvaux)
• Saint Adelaide of Burgundy, to 21-year old Lothair II of Italy.

    Married at Age 16

• Saint Adelaied, born 931, married 947 at age 16, bore five children.
• Saint Humility, born 1226, married 1242, at age 16
• Blessed Galeotto Roberto Malatesta, married at age 16.
• Blessed Louisa of Savoy, born Dec 2, 1462, Married 1479 at age 16.
• Blessed Victoria Rasoamanarivo was born in 1848 and married in 1864, at the age of 16.
• Blessed Mary of the Incarnation, born 1566, married in 1582 at age 16.
• Blessed Dorothy of Montau, born 1347, married 1363 at age 16.
• Blessed Joan Mary de Maille born 1331, married 1347 at age 16.
• Blessed Peter To Rote, aged 22, married 16-year old Paula Ia Varpit, who bore two children.
• Saint Thomas More, aged 27, married 16-year old Jane Colt, who bore four children.

    Married at Age 17

• Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, betrothed at age twelve, married at 17. bore two children.
• Saint Joan de Lestonnac, born 1556, married at age 17.
• Blessed Helena of Bologna, born 1472, married 1489 at age 17.
• Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, born 1271, married 1288 at age 17
• Saint Zdislava, born 1220, married at age 17. Mother of four children.
• Blessed Ida of Boulogne, born 1040, married 1057 at age 17, mother of three

QUESTIONS

So, if you are a faithful Catholic, are you preparing your children to joyfully accept the saving grace of the sacrament of marriage between the ages of 12 and 17? Are you encouraging them to marry before the age of 20, in imitation of the Blessed Virgin and the saints, and following the sage advice of a Doctor of the Church, in accordance with canon law?

Is it possible that the the problem of teen pregnancy is actually a problem involving the failure of Christians to prepare 12, 13, and 14-year-olds to be married between the ages of 14 and 16?

Even if it is not stressed, does the Catholic Church formally teach its adherents to accept marriage during the ages that the secular world would call "child marriage" and "pedophilia"? Is secular society correct about when to receive the sacrament, are the ancient laws, teachings and traditions of the Church wrong? Or is the Church correct and secular society the one that is wrong to prevent men and women in their teens from marrying? 

Does the Church instruct us to no longer imitate the saints? Are we to refuse the advice of the Doctors of the Church? Do we block our sons and daughters from being properly prepared to receive the eternal, life-giving grace of marriage at the age of 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16, when canon law has said, or currently does say, they are permitted to receive it? 

Traditionalists get upset when the Pope or the bishops say divorced spouses might still, under certain circumstances, receive the Eucharist, but they refuse the example and teachings of the saints, and look askance at the canons of the Church when it comes to encouraging teens to enter into marriage. Marriage is a sacrament. Why would you discourage or prevent its reception?