Vatican Rules Against Gay Priests

The Vatican has today published its long-awaited statement on homosexuals and the priesthood, affirming that those with "deep-seated" gay tendencies should not be ordained.

The document also bans supporters of gay culture from entering the priesthood, but says that men who have "overcome" their homosexuality for at least three years would be accepted as priests.

The instruction from the Vatican does not affect men who are already priests but only those entering seminaries to prepare for the priesthood. Gay rights groups say this may force new clergy members to hide their homosexuality, burying the issue rather than confronting it.

Pope Benedict XVI approved the document at the end of August, but it was only officially released after it was leaked on an Italian Catholic news agency website last week.

The document confirms the Catholic church's view that deep-seated homosexual tendencies are "objectively disordered" and "grave sins". It also says heads of seminaries have a serious duty to see to it that candidates for the priesthood do not "present disturbances of a sexual nature which are incompatible with the priesthood".

Critics say the instruction may alienate gay man who would make excellent priests and would be able to honour their vow of celibacy.

"Having worked with bishops and priests, diocesan and religious, all over the world, I have no doubt that God does call homosexuals to the priesthood, and they are among the most dedicated and impressive priests I have met," wrote Father Timothy Radcliffe, former master of the Dominican order, in the British Catholic weekly paper, the Tablet.

"And we may presume that God will continue to call both homosexuals and heterosexuals to the priesthood because the church needs the gifts of both," he wrote.

Campaigners say the restrictions may create moral problems for existing gay priests and lead to a drop in new priests entering the clergy. There is already a shortage of priests in the US.

They also warn that the Catholic church is using gay men as scapegoats for its sex abuse scandals. In 2002, a wide network of sexual abuse of teenage boys by priests in the US was revealed.

Conservative Catholics have welcomed the document, saying it is an important step in the reform of the priesthood, particularly in the US.

George Weigel, a leading American lay theologian, said the church was obliged "to make sure the men it ordains are capable of living lives of celibate chastity".