Vatican denounces transsexuals

Modesto Bee ^ | 1/31/03 | Nicole Winfield

[hoosierskypilot]

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Transsexuals suffer from "mental pathologies," are ineligible for admission to Roman Catholic religious orders and should be expelled if they have already entered the priesthood or religious life, the Vatican says in new directives. The Vatican's orthodoxy watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, sent the directives to the superiors of religious orders worldwide. The leaders were told to implement the directives or turn cases over to the Congregation for handling, Vatican officials said Friday.

The directives were the latest in a series of Vatican pronouncements on eligibility for the priesthood issued ahead of a long-awaited set of guidelines for seminaries in accepting candidates for the clergy.

Those guidelines, due out later this year, are expected to address whether gays also should be barred.

In the new directives, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said transsexuals should be barred as priests, monks, friars, nuns and brothers in religious orders.

"When, from clear external behavior and the testimony of those assigned to formation, there emerges the prudent doubt about the presence of transsexuality, the superior should arrange for a careful medical and psychiatric exam," said the directive, which was reported Friday by Adista, a liberal Catholic news agency.

"In the case that there is a serious and irreversible pathology of transsexuality, (the candidate) cannot be validly admitted into the institute or the society, while in cases of doubt, it is forbidden to allow admission since the candidate is missing a clear and full eligibility," said the document, whose content was confirmed by a Vatican official.

Transsexuals, for the most part, feel they were born the wrong gender and undertake to change their sex, often through surgery and hormone treatments.

The Vatican document said transsexuals are considered to suffer from "mental pathologies," a disassociation between their mind and body in determining their sex.

[hoosierskypilot]

I disagree. It's a choice; not an illness. And it's sin.

[anniegetyourgun]

I agree. And there's no such thing as a 'sex change'....it's nothing more than medical mutilation.

[Cicero]

That's what the Vatican statement implies, if it doesn't state it directly.

A transexual suffers from a mental illness, in which causes him or her to imagine that he is of a different sex from his body. Of course that is not the case.

If, as you say, he mutilates his body with a so-called "sex change operation" and does it in a way that is "irreversible," according to this directive, then even if he repents of the action he is still ineligible, because he has permanently maimed himself.

So it's not only a sin but a permanent disqualification from the priesthood or religious orders.

As I recall from a course I took long ago on medieval history, a man cannot be a priest if he is mutilated, especially if he has lost the fingers that would normally be used to consecrate the host. It may not be his fault, but it's an impediment to performing the priestly functions. That seems to be the case here, too.

[Izzy Dunne]

it's an impediment to performing the priestly functions. That seems to be the case here, too.

Yes, we've all seen how important a penis is to 'priestly functions".

[SouthernFreebird]

I think the same could/should be said for homosexuals..... they should be expelled from the priesthood.

[SamAdams76]

And abusing young boys is a sin too. Perhaps the church should first purge their ranks of this scum instead of worrying about transsexuals. I mean, come on, whoever heard of a transsexual priest?

The Archidiocese in Boston just got permission to sell church property to start settling these cases with money. They are hoping that by paying off the victims, the whole thing will just blow away. Well the priests involved in this should be put in jail first.

[CedarDave]

The directives were the latest in a series of Vatican pronouncements on eligibility for the priesthood issued ahead of a long-awaited set of guidelines for seminaries in accepting candidates for the clergy.

Transexuals are in good company. The eligibility guidelines already ban 50% of the planet's population -- women.

[hotpotato]

A transexual suffers from a mental illness, in which causes him or her to imagine that he is of a different sex from his body. Of course that is not the case.

I'm confused. Do you mean the claim that the transsexual suffers from a mental illness is not the case or that the belief that the transsexual is in the wrong body is not the case?

[Coleus]

ping

[sinkspur]

And abusing young boys is a sin too. Perhaps the church should first purge their ranks of this scum instead of worrying about transsexuals. I mean, come on, whoever heard of a transsexual priest?

As a Catholic, that's kinda how I see this too.

Are there bunches of former women-genitally-altered running around in the priesthood? If there are, then things are worse than I thought.

[Loyalist]

It's fairly easy to spot one of these sex-changed nuts because all the estrogen injections in the world will not alter certain physical characteristics (enlarged Adam's apple, narrower hip to waist ratio, bone structure, etc.).

Considering who runs the seminary screening processes, I wouldn't be surprised if a few transsexuals slipped through the cracks.

[heyheyhey]

You have no clue, do you?

[Kevin Curry]

Perhaps the church should first purge their ranks of [homosexual and pedophile priests] instead of worrying about transsexuals.

Why can't they do both?

And while they're at it, deal with Ted Kennedy appropriately.

[Ciexyz]

Hmm, wonder if the Presbyterian Church USA (my denomination) has similar guidelines. (smile)

[SamAdams76]

And you don't know what you are talking about, do you? I happen to be very familiar with the Catholic church and I know what I am talking about. Not only did I grow up in a Catholic neighborhood but I married one. Are you trying to say that transsexual priests are a bigger problem in the Catholic Church than priests who prey on young boys? Because if you do, you are ignorant.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Just keep telling everyone you know that more people died in Ted Kennedy's car than got killed at TMI - its always good for a nervous giggle out of liberals, and is pretty effective as to everyone else.

[F16Fighter]

Has there been a rebuttal from Michael Jackson yet?

[heyheyhey]

Being a spouse of a Catholic doesn't make you an all-things-Catholic expert; it doesn't really make you anything special.

You know only what is reported to you by the massmedia.
Pedophilia is practically non-existent among the Catholic clergy and no one ever heard of it before 2002.

Transsexuality and homosexuality are closely related and the problem needed to be addressed before it would be too late.

[SamAdams76]

Pedophilia is practically non-existent among the Catholic clergy and no one ever heard of it before 2002.

I'll let you hang yourself by your own words for the whole world to see. Nothing more needs to be said.

[heyheyhey]

Still no clue, huh?