Seminarist. Photo: Stefan Wise LC; Cathopic

Gays in Seminaries? In Regard to Homosexuals and the Priesthood, the Norms Have Not Changed at All

The 2016 norms are confirmed. The clarification made necessary by an incorrect reading of the CEI text in which some saw the green light to access ordination as long as chastity was maintained.

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(ZENIT News- Avvenire / Milan, 18.01.2025).- The norms regarding the non-admission of homosexuals to the priesthood will not change. The clarification came the day after the publication of the “Orientamenti e Norme per i Seminari” (“Guidelines and Norms for Seminaries”), which indicate to structures of formation to the priesthood itineraries of formation and attention to the candidates of the priesthood. The new intervention was necessary after a partial and decontextualized reading by some organs of the press of paragraph 44 of the document, which, in fact, addresses the question of homosexuality in Seminaries’ formative itinerary.

To tell the truth, the paragraph reiterates, word for word, what is established in number 199 of the document, issued by the then Congregation for the Clergy, titled “The Gift of the Priestly Vocation. Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis” of December 8, 2016 and which in turn reiterates the content of the Instruction published by the then Congregation for Catholic Education in 2005.

“In regard to persons with homosexual tendencies that approach the Seminaries or that in the course of their formation discover such a situation, in coherence with the Magisterium, the Church, respecting profoundly the persons in question, cannot admit to the Seminary and to Holy Orders those that practice homosexuality, present profoundly rooted homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture. The persons mentioned are, in fact, in a situation that gravely hinders a correct relationship with men and women,” states the document of 2016 as does that of the Italian Episcopal Conference, published on Thursday, January 9, 2025.

The true novelty of the document, in fact, is the focus that the new norms put on “discernment,” particularly in the first three years of the formative itinerary. “In the first place we try to situate the person by helping candidates to the priesthood to acquire clarity within themselves.” In a word, it is “an accompaniment to self-knowledge that is often lacking in the young generations and that doesn’t exclude young men that arrive at the Seminaries,” stressed Bishop Stefano Manetti of Fiesole, President of the Episcopal Commission for the Clergy and Consecrated Life.

The new Ratio published on Thursday, January 9, explains to formators in the formative process that “when reference is made to homosexual tendencies, it is also appropriate not to reduce discernment solely to this aspect, but, as for each candidate, to understand its significance in the global framework of the young man’s personality, so that, knowing and integrating the objectives proper to the human and priestly vocation, he can achieve overall harmony.” In sum, Bishop Manetti of Fiesole reiterates that it “means putting the person at the center, beyond immediate categorizations, to accompany him to see the truth about his sexual orientation.” Hence, a “full awareness of himself also in the affective-sexual sphere.” This is a concern that formators are called to have for all candidates to the priesthood, including the heterosexuals.

In paragraph 44 the document underscores again that “the objective of the formation of the candidate to the priesthood in the affective-sexual sphere, is the capacity to receive as a gift, to choose freely and to live responsibly chastity in celibacy. In fact, “it is not a merely affective indication, but the synthesis of an attitude that expresses the contrary of possession. Chastity is freedom from possession in all the realms of life.” A phrase that some have interpreted as a possible opening to homosexual priests as long as they are chaste. “It is not a correct reading, because the paragraph reiterates from the beginning the norms of the Magisterium,” explains Bishop Manetti.

Translation of the Italian original into Spanish by ZENIT’s Editorial Director and, into English, by Virginia M. Forrester.

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