Vatican official reiterates that celibate homosexuals cannot be ordained

November 03, 2008

At a press conference at which the Congregation for Catholic Education’s ‘Guidelines for the Use of Psychology in the Admission and Formation of Candidates for the Priesthood’ were released, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the congregation, reiterated that even celibate homosexuals cannot be ordained to the priesthood.

‘The candidate does not necessarily have to practice homosexuality’ to be excluded from ordination, said Cardinal Grocholewski. ‘He can even be without sin. But if he has this deeply seated tendency, he cannot be admitted to priestly ministry precisely because of the nature of the priesthood, in which a spiritual paternity is carried out. Here we are not talking about whether he commits sins, but whether this deeply rooted tendency remains.’

The cardinal added, ‘It’s not simply a question of observing celibacy as such. In this case, it would be a heterosexual tendency, a normal tendency. In a certain sense, when we ask why Christ reserved the priesthood to men, we speak of this spiritual paternity, and maintain that homosexuality is a type of deviation, a type of irregularity, as explained in two documents of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Therefore it is a type of wound in the exercise of the priesthood, in forming relations with others. And precisely for this reason we say that something isn’t right in the psyche of such a man. We don’t simply talk about the ability to abstain from these kinds of relations.’

 

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Further information:

• Homosexuality and the priesthood revisited (CNS Blog)
• New Vatican document weighs use, limits of psychology in seminaries (CWN, Oct. 30)