VATICAN CITY/BELGIUM: Vatican gets tough on homosexual would-be priests in first big ruling under Pope Benedict XVI

Record ID: 335584

  • Title: VATICAN CITY/BELGIUM: Vatican gets tough on homosexual would-be priests in first big ruling under Pope Benedict XVI
  • Date: 30th November 2005
  • Summary: PRIESTS WALKING IN STREET (VARIOUS)
  • Embargoed: 15th December 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAENQIJBIJNOFCQVP9QP0X469AT
  • Story Text: The Vatican document which has sparked controversy because it bars homosexuals from entering the Roman Catholic priesthood was finally released on Tuesday (November 29) -- after being widely leaked in the media -- in the first major ruling of Pope Benedict's reign. The short document, which takes a strict line on the place of gays in the clergy, has already been praised by conservatives, condemned by liberals and set off heated debate well beyond the Church. Confronting an issue that has divided the faithful worldwide, it says practising homosexuals should be barred from entering the priesthood along with men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies and those who support gay culture. In one of its most controversial passages, the document says only men who had clearly overcome homosexual tendencies for at least three years should be admitted to the priesthood. Father Jarek Cielecki, a journalist as well as a priest, said on Tuesday(November 29), "For me, this document raises a big question: why is homosexuality treated as a limited period of a life, as something that can go away after three years, or a few years? I think somebody who is homosexual stays homosexual. It's a human tendency." Gay groups have said the Church is using homosexuals as scapegoats for its sexual abuse scandals. Conservative Catholics have welcomed the document, describing it as an important step in the reform of the priesthood, particularly in the United States, where they say some seminaries had become venues for a thriving subculture. Many inside and outside the Church have said the document risks alienating men who would be good priests and would be able to honour their vow of celibacy. The Vatican correspondent for German radio, Gregor Hoppe, said: "...it will certainly cause scandal because human rights groups and gay groups, pressure groups, have protested and to my mind justly so because you know it makes a discrimination where not even the difference can be of importance. I mean everybody is asked to live a chaste life, live in chastity and have no sex at all -- and what kind of sex you are not having cannot be a matter of importance to the Church I think." The document reinforces standing policy that many in the Church believe has not been properly enforced. Its urgency has been highlighted by the 2002 sexual abuse scandal in the United States, which involved mostly abuse of teenage boys by priests. It does not affect those men who are already priests, but only those entering seminaries to prepare for the priesthood. It restates long-standing Church teaching that "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies are "objectively disordered" and that homosexual acts are grave sins. It says heads of seminaries have a serious duty to ensure that candidates for the priesthood do not "present disturbances of a sexual nature which are incompatible with the priesthood". Belgian bishops played down the controversy provoked by Tuesday's (November 29) Vatican document restricting homosexuals from joining the Catholic priesthood. The spokesman for Belgian bishops, Father Eric de Beukelaer, told Reuters on Tuesday (November 29) that the content of the document is not new and that the Vatican is simply reinforcing the current situation. Belgium was one of the first countries to legalise homosexual weddings and parliament is considering a law allowing homosexual couples to adopt children. De Beukelaer said that in some seminaries there were some "accidents", that is to say practising homosexual seminarists. De Beukaer said that the problem is the same for a homosexuals as for a heterosexuals -- they must remain celibate.
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