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Several Vatican documents and letters over the years have said gays or men with homosexual tendencies should not be ordained, regardless of whether they can remain celibate.

That's a slight misstatement. One who remains celibate doesn't even fall into the restriction.

Remember that the Church differentiates between the concupiscent desire (this sin that dwells within me that is not my sin" as Paul puts it) and sinful behavior. "Tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty" likely refers to actual behavior, not to the inclination to commit a particular kind of sin. In "the world", you're "gay" just from who you are attracted to. In the church, that's just a sinful inclination that you are given to conquer - as we all have.

A person who doesn't have sex but perhaps self-identifies as a gay man, and fantasizes regularly about sex with men or teenagers is not totally innocent, especially when the person indulges himself with it, as opposed to fighting it.

I lived celibate for over 15 years before I got married. Certainly didn't mean I was free of sexual sin or desire or want, but it does give me something of an idea of what long term celibacy feels like. It is not an easy lifestyle, and choices have to be made.

One of the things needful to realize is it's not good to make excuses for sinful behavior, even if it's not acted out in great measure. If a person thinks "This must be all right because this is how God made me" and thus starts to find reasons to disagree with the hard core teachings of the Church on faith and morals, then it's gone beyond sexual sin into a form of rebellion. It is no doubt up to the spiritual director of each seminarian to discern what is going on.

This is why Archbishop Chaput said that each person needs to be judged on a case by case basis.

That's a slight misstatement.

No it's not. Anyone with a room temperature IQ knows what was meant in 1961 by the inclusion of "tendencies." Since 82% of the abuse cases involved homosexuals, the idea that it's safe to ordain homosexuals who claim they are celibate and can remain so for life is wishful thinking.

"Advancement to religious vows and ordination should be barred to those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty, since for them the common life and the priestly ministry would constitute serious dangers."

Main Entry: ten·den·cy
Pronunciation: 'ten-d&n(t)-sE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -cies
Etymology: Medieval Latin tendentia, from Latin tendent-, tendens, present participle of tendere
1 a : direction or approach toward a place, object, effect, or limit b : a proneness to a particular kind of thought or action
2 a : the purposeful trend of something written or said : AIM b : deliberate but indirect advocacy