three-year celibacy rule for gay priests

By Craig Brown (TheScotsman)

October 10, 2005: Edinburgh - The Catholic Church will allow gay men into the priesthood if they can show they have been celibate for at least three years, according to a leaked Vatican document.

The report in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera yesterday said: "Candidates who show a homosexual tendency will not be allowed into the priesthood unless they can demonstrate that they have been able to remain chaste for at least three years."

The Vatican views on gay priests are contained in a secret, 16-page document which is expected to be released next month.

The document, an "instruction" by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, covers one of the most sensitive issues in the Roman Catholic Church.

However, despite seemingly softening its stance on gay clergy, the Vatican reasserted that it will ban men who "publicly manifest their homosexuality" or show an "overwhelming attraction" to homosexual culture "even if it is only intellectually".

Despite this, the leaked document contradicts reports last month that the Vatican would be instigating a witch hunt by banning homosexuality in the Catholic Church.

This had caused dismay, partly because it would decimate clergy numbers - it is estimated that close to a third of all bishops in America are gay - while many priests would be excluded by a total ban.

The Church teaches that homosexuality is not a sin but that homosexual acts are, and it expects all priests, whether homosexual or heterosexual, to remain celibate.

The new document has been passed by Pope Benedict XVI, whose is believed to have held staunch views on homosexuality in general, but it was written under the auspices of the late Pope John Paul II.

But Mike Hirst, news editor for the Catholic newspaper The Tablet, said it would mean little in the official position of the church. "Things won't change after this, it's far less stringent than a lot of people thought it would be," he said. "But I think there will be a certain amount of relief among the liberal wing [who thought] that a witch hunt would be on the cards."

Mr Hirst added that the statement would give reassurance to members of the Anglican Church who had either joined the Catholic Church or were thinking about doing so following the controversy over the issue of appointing openly gay bishops such as Gene Robinson.

A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland said that as the publication date of the document was close, they would not be commenting on it.

David Allison, a spokesman for the gay rights body Outrage, said he believed the paper was fudging. "I would like to know exactly how they are going to try to monitor this," he said. "Are they going to put some sort of meter on priests to discover whether or not they have had sex recently?"