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Catholic World News News Feature

Details emerging on Vatican gay-seminarian ban November 12, 2005

According to the latest in a series of press reports, an eagerly awaited Vatican document will bar homosexuals from the priesthood and seminary training, but the ban will be absolute only for those whose homosexual tendencies are "deeply rooted."

The Italian daily Il Giornale, citing what it claimed were passages from the unpublished document, said that the Vatican instruction would bar seminarians who are active homosexuals, participate in the "gay subculture," or show "deeply rooted" homosexual tendencies.

The paper said that document would leave an opening for men who have "transitory" homosexual inclinations. Echoing earlier reports, Il Giornale said that the report allowed for men with homosexual tendencies to be candidates for ordination if they had demonstrated the ability to be chaste for at least three years.

Il Giornale is the first publication to quote what it said were excerpts from the pending document, which is to be published by the Congregation for Catholic Education. The document has been the topic of heavy speculation for weeks, with different news organizations offering contrasting perspectives on that the Vatican instruction will say.

Vatican officials have not offered public comments on the document or its likely publication date, nor responded officially to the media speculation about its contents.

The Roman news agency I Media-- which broke the original story in September reporting that the Pope had approved a document would bar gay men from the priesthood-- reveals that the Vatican instruction is now scheduled for publication in the November 29 edition of L'Osservatore Romano. (The Vatican newspaper is published in the afternoon, bearing a cover date of the following day; thus the November 29 edition will be in print in the evening of November 28.)

The document, which is officially dated November 4, bears the signatures of Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski and Archbishop Michael Miller: the prefect and secretary, respectively, of the Congregation for Catholic Education. I Media reports that the document was circulated sub secreto to the heads of the Roman Curia on November 9, and sent to apostolic nuncios around the world to be distributed to the world's bishops. The latest reports in the Italian press are evidently based on leaks from the recipients of these advance copies.

The document reportedly says that a candidate for the priesthood must show "affective maturity" and a capacity for "spiritual paternity." Homosexual tendencies, the instruction says, constitute a major obstacle to the development of these traits.

Although the document says that homosexuals should always be treated with respect, and warns against any form of illicit discrimination against gay men, it also reiterates the Church teaching that homosexual tendencies are a serious objective disorder. The document stresses that there is no "right" to ordination, and the Church must select the men best able to carry out the priestly ministry.

In cases when the sexual orientation of a seminarian are in "serious doubt," he should not be ordained, the document reportedly says. It adds that spiritual directors, if they are aware that a seminarian has strong same-sex impulses, are morally obligated to dissuade him from continuing his priestly training.

The document allows, however, that a "transitory problem" or an adolescent experience should not be an insurmountable obstacle to ordination, provided that the candidate has demonstrated his ability to live a chaste life over a period of three years.

(Editorial note: Because of the keen public interest on the issue, CWN believes that informed speculation about the contents of the pending Vatican document is newsworthy. We cannot vouch for the accuracy of the report in Il Giornale. CWN stands by our original September 22 report that the document-- which had been approved by Pope Benedict at that date-- sets the clear general principle that homosexuals should not be ordained as priests.)