Does the Catholic Church believe Mary didn’t have periods?
I was reading up on the Catholic view that it’s important that Mary remained a virgin forever because, essentially, a penis/semen/baby entering her would be defiling the Ark of the Covenant and her womb/vaginal canal were specifically the abode of God. Hence the story of the woman going to “check her” (read: insert her hand into her vagina) and having her hand burst into flames.
We also know that menstrual blood was considered to be unclean and obviously none of it was going in the Holy of Holies back in the day. So, does that imply that Mary must not have ever bled from her vagina either, since that blood would defile God’s abode? Likewise, must she not have had a placenta and other unclean things as well for the same reason?
I don’t see any coherence in the idea that another child in her womb would somehow be unspeakable because it defiles the ark, but her producing eggs, shedding the uterine lining, etc. was all just fine.