Posted on 10/07/2005 9:08:56 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
The Vatican will allow gay men into the priesthood if they can show they have been celibate for at least three years, leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported on Friday.
But it said the Vatican will ban men who "publicly manifest their homosexuality" or show an "overwhelming attraction" to homosexual culture "even if it is only intellectually."
The Vatican views on gay priests are contained in a secret 16-page document which is expected to be released next month.
The document, an "instruction" by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, covers one of the most sensitive issues in the Roman Catholic Church.
Officials at the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Vatican press office could not be reached for immediate comment.
The Corriere report said: "Candidates who show a homosexual tendency will not be allowed into the priesthood unless they can demonstrate that they have been able to remain chaste for at least three years."
Media reports last month, primarily in the United States, said the document would bar all gay men from being ordained priests, even those who are celibate.
Those reports caused concerns in many quarters in the Church that many good men would be excluded by a total ban.
The Church teaches that homosexuality is not a sin but that homosexual acts are, and it expects all priests, whether homosexual or heterosexual, to remain celibate.
Corriere and the weekly Panorama magazine both reported on Friday that Pope Benedict had approved the document this summer.
Panorama said its release would be accompanied by a written explanation by "an internationally known psychologist."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
oh no.
I guess your "scriptures" exclude 1 Corinthians chapter 7 ?
Are we talking about priests here or saints?
Let me try a different analogy to make my point. Isn't a celibate saying he's a homosexual a bit like a tee-totaller saying he's an alcoholic? Let's say he's never had a drink before in his life - he just somehow knows he's an alcoholic.
Meet the post-VatII Church. You came into the Church at a bad time. Once upon a time, your (Catholic) pastor would have been tripping all over himself to get your mother into the Church. And then suddenly we got to the post-VatII "it's all groovy" Catholic Church.
Converts practically have to fight to get into the Church. I have met many people who have had this experience.
So, IOW, you're saying that wideawake has a lot in common with most of the greatest Catholic saints of history?
High praise, that!
Don't worry. When they start citing actual sources, you can start getting worked up.
Uh, no. A homosexual is attracted to males, but it is possible for a homosexual to have never acted on that attraction.
Heterosexuals are attracted to women, but it is possible for a heterosexual to have never acted on that attraction.
If a man never takes a drink, how will he know if he would be so attracted to drink that he would become addicted to it?
That has not been my experience, AT ALL.
If what you say is true, how come the number of Catholics is growing, dramatically, every year? Over 200,000 people came into the Catholic Church in the United States last year. That's pretty impressive.
Not good. This means the document is watered down from what we thought it was.
Bruck's first thought on the subject: The new Pope's nuts! The Catholic church has finally gone off the deep end!
Bruck's second thought: Wait a minute... what?
How much y'all wanna bet this is disinformation?
Homosexuality is a disordered condition. They don't belong in the priesthood. Not good candidates for maintaining chastity.
I guess your "scriptures" exclude 1 Corinthians chapter 7 ?
The Catholic Church has made a LAW that its PRIESTS cannot MARRY, but must remain CELIBATE. The Bible clearly says that "forbidding to marry" is a false teaching and even a "doctrine of devils"!--1Timothy 4:1-3; Genesis 2:18; 1Corinthians 7:9. The priests in the Old Testament--even those who entered into the HOLIEST OF HOLIES in the Temple--were allowed to marry. Even PETER, whom Catholics consider to be the first POPE, was MARRIED!--Matthew 8:14; 1Corinthians 9:5. As it now stands, the Church's teaching on celibacy has driven many priests into God-cursed sodomy, or homosexuality!
Something I found with a quick internet search. You can't just take one verse out of context. The Bible as a whole has to be considered.
Oh my, you ARE angry. Bless your heart.
I was going to say, this doesn't sound like Benedictus XVI
How do you explain the likely thousands of celibate homosexuals who are serving today, and who have served down through the centuries?
Read John Allen's article posted in the religion forum. It is much more detailed, and the source names the date the document was approved, and who attended the approval session.
It is likely this is more than just a rumor.
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