Newspaper: Vatican to bar active gays, allow celibate gays as priests

Published: 2005-10-07

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- An Italian newspaper said a long-awaited Vatican document would bar active homosexuals from priestly ordination but allow celibate gay men into the priesthood. Under the new guidelines, seminarians who have not lived chastely for at least three years would not be ordained, the newspaper, Corriere della Sera, said Oct. 7. It said the three-year period referred to the last phase of seminary formation. Also excluded from ordination would be candidates publicly declaring themselves homosexual or those with an uncontrollable attraction to gay "culture" -- including lectures, films and Internet sites, the newspaper said. The newspaper did not claim to have seen the Vatican document, but said it had received information about content through "verbal indiscretions." No sources were named. The Vatican had no comment on the report, but sources said the document would probably be released sometime soon. Speculation over the document has increased in recent weeks after reports that Pope Benedict XVI had approved the text.

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