Vatican Department Says No to Gay Priests; "Gays unsuitable for priesthood [!]"

Reuters, AP, Zenit ^ | 12/5/02 | Reuters, AP, Zenit

[Polycarp]

CLEAR VATICAN STATEMENT AGAINST ORDINATION OF HOMOSEXUALS VATICAN, Dec 5, 02 (CWNews.com) -- A leading Vatican official has confirmed the Church's position that men with homosexual tendencies should not be ordained.

In a letter dated May 16, 2002, Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez-- who was, at the time, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship-- said: "Ordination to the diaconate or priesthood of persons with homosexual tendencies is absolutely unadvisable and imprudent, and from a pastoral point of view, extremely risky." The letter by Cardinal Medina Estevez, which was a response to a query from a bishop, has now been published in the November-December edition of a bulletin put out by the Congregation for Divine Worship.

An unidentified bishop had written to the Congregation for the Clergy, seeking a definitive answer regarding Vatican policy on the ordination of men with homosexual tendencies. That Congregation handed the question over to the Congregation for Divine Worship, prompting the response from Cardinal Medina Estevez.

The cardinal's letter indicates that he was replying to the query from the unnamed bishop (who is understood to have been American) after having consulted with other Vatican dicasteries, including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as well as the Congregation for the Clergy. He said that he had also been guided by previous Vatican statements, and had taken into account the lessons that had been derived from many requests for dispensation from the priesthood.

Earlier, in 1997, the Congregation for Divine Worship had circulated a letter to the world's bishops, proposing some guidelines for the selection of candidates for priestly ordination. Among the required characteristics were "sufficient affective maturity and a clearly masculine sexual identity."

The Congregation for Catholic Education is expected to take up the same topic in a document that will appear in the near future, intended for the guidance of seminary rectors.

Since writing his answer to the bishop's request, Cardinal Medina Estevez has stepped down as the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. That post is now held by Cardinal Francis Arinze.

[Polycarp]

Well, its about time.

Pinging...

[Little Bill]

Wouldn't the Pope have to of signed off on this? I'm not Catholic but this seems to be a policy statement and, to my mind, would have been discussed at higher levels.

[Ken522]

... like a breath of fresh air ...

[Southack]

FYI

[ThomasMore]

There will be a huge clamor by the leftists when the real document is published!

[Argus]

Now if we could just have some additional guidelines barring atheists, heretics, communists, socialists and progressive goo-goos from the priesthood as well, we'll be getting somewhere.

[B-Chan]

Thanks to St. Joseph, Patron of the Church, for prayers answered through the Power of Christ.

[Polycarp]

I think this has been directled by the Pope himself. He's no fool. He knows the crisis in the Church is not "pedophilia" but homosexual abuse of adolescent boys.

I just wish they had done this 4 decades ago (well, actually, THEY DID!), and repeated and enforced it stringently every day since (which they failed to do after saying this exact same thing in 1961!). Then we wouldn't be in this mess to this degree.

[Polycarp]

Rome wasn't built in one day...

[Gerish]

Yes, it is about time. However, do we really need a document to tell us something that normally would be common sense? Can't wait to hear Hubbard and Mahoney's reaction!

[Fiddlstix]

[eno_]

The Church appears to have gained a firm grasp of the obvious.

[MagnusMat]

This is good, but it could be difficult to enforce. Keep those wrists up boys or else. In the old days they would monitor activities at night, see who was sneaking into other rooms etc by putting baby powder on the floor i.e leaving footprints. What this will do is keep the gays from making it public for fear of expulsion.

[Little Bill]

I seem to remember that Cardinal Medina Estevez and the Pope were close friends and allies. It seems to me that this letter coming out over his signature might be sending a message?

[Aquinasfan]

According to Vatican sources, the Holy See is preparing a document that could prevent men with homosexual tendencies from becoming priests.

Hurray!

After months of saturation coverage of this scandal in the Boston media, I doubt that this announcement will receive any coverage.

[eno_]

There will be a huge clamor by the leftists when the real document is published!

Nope, they will try to ignore it to death. John Paul is a very conservative Pope. He just has to find enough people around him that are not tainted by buggery to put the word out. And that won't be easy. Remember all the news in the past few months about the JP being so old andf frail he should retire? That is the way the media want to silence this.

[Remole]

Let me offer another prediction about the fate of this issue.

Despite what critics of the Church imagine, the Vatican really hesitates from issuing hard and firm declarations about matters that are not, strictly speaking, issues of Faith and Morals. And this issue is NOT strictly tied to Faith and Morals, but to a more nebulous issue, namely, the qualifications that make a man fit for ordination to the ministerial priesthood. What I predict is that the final form of any document on this will be joined/ blended with something relating to priestly formation in general; the document will talk about all aspects of the training and about the need for regular visitations from outsiders to assure orthodoxy, etc. Included in the document will be clear but bland language about the need to make sure that the candidate has reached the proper level of integration of personal sexuality and personhood, etc etc.

This letter published today will be out there, of course, for those who want to clarify the bland language of the document; but the language of this letter will not be normative. My prediction.

[flamefront]

homosexual abuse of adolescent boys

Now lets see the Church try to keep a lid on this even larger mess about to coming out in the open.