Gays cannot enter Catholic priesthood, insists Vatican

By: 8 years ago

Father Krysztof Olaf Charamsa (L), who works for a Vatican office, gives a press conference with his partner Edouard to reveal his homosexuality on October 3, 2015 in Rome. The priest said he wanted to challenge what he termed the Church's "paranoia" with regard to sexual minorities, claiming the Catholic clergy was largely made up of intensely homophobic homosexuals. The Vatican condemned the coming out of a Polish priest on the eve of a major synod as a "very serious and irresponsible," act which meant he would be stripped of his responsibilities in the Church's hierarchy. In a statement, a spokesman said Krzystof Charamsa would not be able to continue in his senior position in the Vatican and that his future as a priest would be decided by his local bishop. AFP PHOTO / TIZIANA FABI / AFP PHOTO / TIZIANA FABI

Then-Father Krysztof Olaf Charamsa (left), who worked for a Vatican office, gives a press conference with his partner Edouard to reveal his homosexuality on October 3, 2015 in Rome. Charamsa was fired then eventually defrocked by a polish bishop. AFP

VATICAN CITY, Holy See — A decree on training for Roman Catholic priests published on Wednesday stresses the obligation of sexual abstinence, as well as barring gays and those who support “gay culture” from holy orders.

“The Church, while deeply respecting the people concerned, cannot admit to a seminary or into holy orders those who practice homosexuality, show deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support what is called gay culture,” said the document.

The new comprehensive guide to the training of Catholic clergy, which runs to about 100 pages, was approved by Pope Francis and published by the Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official journal.

READ: Polish church suspends gay priest with boyfriend | Priest blames quakes in Italy on gay unions

It updates a previous version dating back 30 years. But the barring of people who present homosexual tendencies was already stipulated by the Catholic Church in 2005.

The new decree does however allow an exemption for “homosexual tendencies which may only be the expression of a transitory problem, such as for example that of adolescence which is not yet complete”.

The document also says it would be “seriously imprudent to admit (to holy orders) a seminarian who had not reached a mature, settled and free emotional state, chaste and faithful in celibacy,” while saying that future priests also need to understand “the feminine reality”.

The document broaches several other issues including the digital revolution.

“One must be prudent in the face of inevitable risks of frequenting the digital world, including different forms of dependency which can be treated with adequate spiritual and psychological means,” it notes.

At the same time it recommends that “social media form part of daily seminary life,” because they offer “new possibilities of interpersonal relations (and) to meet other people,” added the document by the Vatican, which has come to use social media widely. CBB