c. 2005 Religion News Service
VATICAN CITY _ A forthcoming Vatican document on homosexuality is expected to restrict gay men’s entry into the priesthood but not ban them outright, providing they have been celibate for at least three years and have not publicly disclosed their homosexuality.
Candidates who participate in gay pride rallies or associate with other forms of “gay culture,” including books, film and Internet sites, are also excluded from becoming priests, according to detailed reports published Friday (Oct 7).
Italy’s leading daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, which first reported on the new guidelines, said that candidates must “show an adequate capacity for self-control” and must “live in chastity” for three years. The report did not say how seminaries are to determine who fails to meet these criteria.
According to a Friday report on the Web site of the National Catholic Reporter (NCR), the application of these criteria will be left up to the individual discretion of seminary directors.
The document also stops short of defining homosexuality because the Vatican does not consider an “absolute policy” on gays possible, NCR quoted a senior Vatican official as saying. Vatican officials could not be reached for comment about the reports.
The measures reported Friday appear to contradict earlier reports in the U.S. media that said Benedict had endorsed an all-out ban on gay men, even celibate ones.
The NCR report said Benedict approved the 16-page document, known as an “Instruction,” on Sept. 15 during an audience with American Archbishop William Levada, prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith; Archbishop Angelo Amato, Levada’s deputy; and Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education.
NCR also said the pope gave his approval in “forma specifica,” which means the document carries his personal authority, making it the church’s most definitive teaching on homosexuality in the priesthood to date.
Both reports said the Vatican was expected to issue the document in November, following the conclusion of the synod of bishops, which is currently meeting in Rome.
According to the Italian newsweekly Panorama, the document’s release will be accompanied by the commentary of an “internationally renowned” psychologist in L’Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper.
The Rev. Anthony Figueiredo, a theologian at Seton Hall University who is assisting Benedict during the synod, said the document aimed to counteract the growing influence of “gay lifestyle” on the priesthood.
“The increasing numbers of homosexual men being ordained changes the culture of the priesthood,” he said, citing the sex abuse scandal as one example of negative change.
A study commissioned by the U.S. Bishops Conference reported that up to 80 percent of the abuse cases involved adolescent boys.
Critics say the Vatican’s focus on homosexuality is a misdirected attempt to shift blame for the crisis away from the church.
Word of the document’s contents comes as the Vatican begins a nationwide investigation of U.S. seminaries that will look for “evidence of homosexuality” among other signs of illicit activity.
The norms do not represent any fundamental change in Catholic teaching regarding homosexuality, which it regards as “intrinsically disordered.” Homosexuals were technically barred from the priesthood in 1961, but many seminary directors appear to have relaxed that policy over the decades, adopting a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach.
MO/PH RNS END
