Vatican bars all gays as priests

The Vatican’s long-awaited new guidelines on homosexual seminarians were released yesterday, barring even celibate homosexuals from seminary.

“Those who are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture” should be barred, the nine-page document said, chiefly because the priest represents Jesus Christ as “head, shepherd and spouse” of the church.

It was termed “a purge” by some Catholics and given faint praise by others who called on bishops to enforce it.

“Some bishops will use this document to do the right thing, and some others will ignore it,” said Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute.

“Where you’ll see its enforcement is where you’ll see increases in vocations. When the priesthood is shown to be manly, sacrificial and orthodox, you’ll see young men willing to step forward and become priests.”

The Vatican held no press conference to introduce “Concerning the Criteria of Vocational Discernment Regarding Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of their Admission to Seminaries and Holy Orders.”

The Vatican also released yesterday in L’Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican daily, an interview with Monsignor Tony Anatrella, a French Jesuit and psychologist. He called homosexuality “an incomplete and immature part of human sexuality.”

Liberal Catholic groups said they got the message and accused the Vatican of starting a witch hunt.

“How did the pope decide that God has stopped inviting gay men to the priesthood after 2000 years?” said Chicago-based Call to Action.

“This edict will not stop gay men from entering the seminary but will force them back into the closet, which will foster secrecy, deceit and unhealthy sexual maturation.”

Known as an “instruction,” the document is considered canon law. Pope Benedict XVI signed it Aug. 31, barely four months after his election.

The document said homosexuality was more a state that one can mature out of or overcome and allows an exception for those men whose “delayed adolescence” led to homosexual acts. Even those candidates must have been celibate for three years.

“My guess is … it would refer to late adolescence where maybe there were homosexual tendencies or some experimentation when they were 18 to 19 years old,” said Monsignor Steven Rohlfs, rector of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md.

By the time a man is in his mid-30s, “you’re not going to adjust their sexual orientation,” he said.

The document pointedly instructed bishops, rectors of seminaries and spiritual directors or confessors to weed out a homosexual candidate, saying they have “the duty to dissuade him, in conscience, from proceeding towards ordination.”

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