Things could be getting a bit more rigorous with regard to seminaries, according to the London Times:
Vatican will require new gay priests to prove their celibacy
From Martin Penner in Rome
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1816059,00.html
GAY candidates will be barred from the Roman Catholic priesthood unless they can demonstrate that they have been celibate for three years, according to leaked details of new Vatican rules for seminaries.
Would-be priests will also be excluded if they declare homosexuality publicly, take part in gay rallies, frequent gay associations or show an interest in homosexuality through the use of the internet, books and films.
Pope Benedict XVI is believed to have already approved the 16 pages of instructions, aimed at the heads of Catholic seminaries around the world.
Publication is expected early next month, Corriere della Sera reported. The stricter rules replace instructions dating back to 1961 and take into account recent medical and psychological research into homosexuality, which Catholic doctrine considers an “objectively disordered” condition. A group of psychologists at the Gregorian University in Rome took part in the drafting.
In a sign of the document’s importance and sensitivity, a Catholic psychologist has been charged with writing an explanatory commentary which will appear in the official Vatican daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, when it is released.
But the document is also the product of some intense thinking in the Vatican since the paedophile priests scandals in the United States in 2001, analysts said.
An investigation by the US bishops’ conference published in 2004 said that in 80 per cent of cases the priest’s actions could more accurately be defined as homosexual rather than paedophilia. The same report noted that there were many excellent priests who had homosexual tendencies but who lived chaste lives.
Vatican will require new gay priests to prove their celibacy
From Martin Penner in Rome
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1816059,00.html
GAY candidates will be barred from the Roman Catholic priesthood unless they can demonstrate that they have been celibate for three years, according to leaked details of new Vatican rules for seminaries.
Would-be priests will also be excluded if they declare homosexuality publicly, take part in gay rallies, frequent gay associations or show an interest in homosexuality through the use of the internet, books and films.
Pope Benedict XVI is believed to have already approved the 16 pages of instructions, aimed at the heads of Catholic seminaries around the world.
Publication is expected early next month, Corriere della Sera reported. The stricter rules replace instructions dating back to 1961 and take into account recent medical and psychological research into homosexuality, which Catholic doctrine considers an “objectively disordered” condition. A group of psychologists at the Gregorian University in Rome took part in the drafting.
In a sign of the document’s importance and sensitivity, a Catholic psychologist has been charged with writing an explanatory commentary which will appear in the official Vatican daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, when it is released.
But the document is also the product of some intense thinking in the Vatican since the paedophile priests scandals in the United States in 2001, analysts said.
An investigation by the US bishops’ conference published in 2004 said that in 80 per cent of cases the priest’s actions could more accurately be defined as homosexual rather than paedophilia. The same report noted that there were many excellent priests who had homosexual tendencies but who lived chaste lives.