This document will be tested for three years and applies only to Italian Seminaries.

This document will be tested for three years and applies only to Italian Seminaries. Photo: Chiesa Cattolica Italiana

Vatican Approved Gays in Seminaries? Dismantling a Lie

New approach to priestly formation in Italy: mission, community and personalization

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(ZENIT News / Rome, 11.01.2025).- With a new horizon adapted to the contemporary challenges, the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) has introduced a new document titled “The Formation of Presbyters in the Churches in Italy. Guidelines and Norms for the Seminaries.” This text, which came into force in an experimental way on January 9, 2025 and will be tested for  three years, seeks to redefine the parameters of the formation of future priests, in the context of a more synodal and missionary Church, in keeping with what was requested in the past Synod on Synodality of October 2024 and certain teaching of Pope Francis. This document is valid only for Seminaries in Italy. Does it talk about homosexuals? Yes, we specify it further on.

More Integral and Personalized Formation 

The document proposes a formative itinerary divided in four stages — propaedeutics, discipleship, configuration and vocational synthesis — which add up to a minimum of eight years. However, it highlights a key change: emphasis on personalization of the formative processes. Far from imposing rigid deadlines, it seeks to adapt times according to individual needs, enabling seminarians to advance in their spiritual, affective and vocational maturity at their own pace.

This focus not only prioritizes theological learning, but also promotes an integral formation that encompasses personal conscience, motivations and convictions.

The Role of the Community and The Mission

One of the essential pillars of this document is the strengthening of the relationship between the seminarian and the Christian community. Sought in the formative stage is greater involvement of the People of God, making the community participate actively in the discernment and accompaniment of the candidates to the priesthood. This aspect reinforces the missionary and communitarian dimension of the formation, which now is regarded as inseparable for pastoral exercise.

A Renewed Focus on Affectivity and Celibacy

The text underscores the importance of affective-sexual formation, pointing it out as essential for genuine priestly ministry. Beyond the mere contention of impulses, a lived celibacy is promoted from freedom, generous love and the capacity to build respectful and mature relations with men and women, young and older people, families and consecrated persons.

According to the document, celibacy is not only a renunciation but an expression of chaste love that removes the desire for possession, inviting priests to a life of dedication and service with genuine interior freedom.

Inclusion and Discernment in Diversity

One of the most innovative and controversial points of the document is its focus on candidates with different homosexual orientations. Although it reaffirms the Church’s general guidelines, it also urges not to reduce vocational discernment to this sole aspect. Proposed, instead, is to evaluate each candidate in his totality, considering his personality, emotional maturity and ability to live in harmony with the values of the priesthood. This aspect has sparked perplexities and it has been the point on which the press has focused, making the point pass as an opening of the Church to gays in Seminaries, which is false.

Psychological Science as Ally of Formation 

For the first time a more explicit role is given to Psychology in the Seminaries. Candidates will be able to access processes of psychological accompaniment, as long as the latter respect privacy and have the free consent of the seminarians. This incorporation seeks to strengthen human and emotional maturity in the future priests, avoiding abuses of conscience and promoting more healthy and balanced relationships.

Adult Vocations and New Formative Modalities 

The document also pays attention to late vocations and proposes modalities such as semi-residential communities for their accompaniment. This focus responds to the growing diversity of vocational profiles and the need to attend individual sensibilities in appropriate formative environments.

Response to Contemporary Challenges

With this renewed framework, the Church in Italy seeks to form more prepared priests to respond to the challenges of today’s world, strengthening their capacity of pastoral leadership, mission and communion. The integration of synodality as a central principle in the document, reflects Pope Francis call for a more inclusive, dialoguing Church centered on the service to the neighbor.

Although this process of renewal is not exempt from challenges, it marks a significant step towards a priestly formation that not only responds to the needs of the Church, but also accompanies with sensibility and depth the future priests in their vocational journey. This document will be tested for three years and applies only to Italian Seminaries.

 

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Valentina di Giorgio

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