Pope Benedict XVI
issues ban on gay clergy

Pope Benedict XVI has given his approval to a new Vatican policy document indicating that gay men should not be ordained as Catholic priests, Catholic World News reports. The new document--which was prepared by the Congregation for Catholic Education, in response to a request made by the late pope John Paul II in 1994--will be published soon. It will take the form of an "Instruction," signed by the prefect and secretary of the Congregation: Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski and Archbishop Michael Miller.

The text, which was approved by Pope Benedict at the end of August, says that gay men should not be admitted to seminaries, even if they are celibate, because their condition suggests a serious personality disorder that detracts from their ability to serve as ministers. Priests who have already been ordained, if they "suffer from homosexual impulses," are strongly urged to renew their dedication to chastity and a manner of life appropriate to the priesthood, according to the Catholic news service.

The Instruction does not represent a change in church teaching or policy. Catholic leaders have consistently taught that gay men should not be ordained to the priesthood. Pope John XXIII approved a formal policy to that effect. However, during the 1970s and 1980s that policy was widely ignored, particularly in North America.

The Congregation for Catholic Education prepared the Instruction after soliciting advice from all of the world's bishops, from psychologists, and from moral theologians. A draft of the Instruction was then circulated among the Vatican dicasteries concerned with the issue, notably including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Informed sources in Rome indicate that the Instruction probably will be made public after the Synod of Bishops convenes in Rome, October 2-23.