Vatican opens door to letting gay men pursue the priesthood in Italy
The Vatican has given its blessing to a document suggesting that those with same-sex attraction can pursue the priesthood in Italy.
The Italian Episcopal Conference, the group of Roman Catholic bishops in Italy, approved a document at its 78th General Conference in 2023 titled "The formation of priests in churches in Italy. Guidelines and standards for seminaries."
The Vatican's Office of the Dicastery for the Clergy granted a decree on Dec. 8, enabling it to go into effect shortly thereafter.
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The document quoted from a 2005 Vatican publication titled "Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders."
According to the Vatican, "In relation to people with homosexual tendencies who approach the Seminaries, or who discover this situation during training, in line with their own Magisterium, the Church, while deeply respecting the people in question, cannot admit to the Seminary and to Holy Orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture."
However, the guidelines that took effect Thursday suggest that people with same-sex attractions are not completely banned from pursuing the priesthood in Italy.
"In the training process, when one does reference homosexual tendencies, it is also appropriate not to reduce discernment only to this aspect, but, as for every candidate to grasp its meaning of the global framework of the young person's personality, so that, knowing himself and integrating the objectives of his human and priestly vocation, he reaches a general harmony," the document stated.
The guidelines stress that all candidates to the priesthood have an obligation to "welcome chastity as a gift, to freely choose it and live it responsibly in celibacy."
The document's approval by the Vatican comes after Pope Francis generated negative headlines last year as reports surfaced alleging that he used a derogatory Italian term loosely translated to "faggotry” when discussing with 160 priests whether to admit men "with homosexual tendencies to seminaries."
He reiterated "the need to welcome them and accompany them in the Church and the prudential indication of the Dicastery for the Clergy regarding their entry into the seminary."
While maintaining that there was "an air of faggotry” in the Vatican, Francis reportedly insisted that the Catholic Church should "be careful" to not "despise people with homosexual tendencies" but rather "to accompany them, because there are so many good people."
Even as he issued a call to "accompany" and "help" individuals with same-sex attraction, Francis remained adamant about the need to "be careful about accepting them in the seminary." A few weeks earlier, he delivered a message directly to the Italian Episcopal Conference as they were debating this issue, proclaiming, "If a young man wants to enter the seminary and has a homosexual tendency: stop him."
"This is something that the Dicastery for the Clergy has said and I support, because today the homosexual culture has progressed so much and there are good young men who want the Lord, but it's better not to [admit them to seminary]," the pontiff added.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
