In discussing the priests in Utopia, Hythloday's first point is that they were men of eminent piety. That remark, under ordinary circumstances, should be taken as a matter of course; but, considering the outcries against laxity and corruption among the clergy in Europe, it sounds suspiciously like an indirect thrust at the Christian priesthood. Then, too, the fact that a relatively few priests serve the Utopian nation adequately, 13 in a large city, marks a contrast to the situation in Christian countries. The fact that Utopian priests could marry represents a departure from the Catholic rule of celibacy. Another surprising contrast to the Christian rule was that in Utopia, women were sometimes appointed to the priesthood. Finally, the service of a priest was not required for making confession in Utopia, as was the absolute requirement in Europe. Hearing confessions was, in Utopia, a family affair.
The ways in which the Utopian religion differs from orthodox Catholicism happen to conform to modifications recommended by reformers for the Catholic church. The question naturally arises as to whether or not More was recommending those modifications along with other reformer-critics, like Erasmus, for example. It is not possible to prove either that More did or did not subscribe to those changes on the basis of textual evidence. One group of readers will be convinced that he subscribed to those "improvements" found in the Utopian system. Other readers, reasoning on the basis of More's demonstrated loyalty to his Church, will discount the idea of his supporting those practices and argue that this passage, like the rest of Utopia, should be considered a fantasy which More did not take seriously.
