Vatican Allows Italian Gay Men to Enter Seminaries, if They Remain Celibate

Candidates for the seminary should not be disqualified based on sexual orientation, according to new church guidelines in Italy.

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The Vatican has approved new guidelines for Italy that say that an applicant for the seminary cannot be rejected simply because he is gay, as long as he remains celibate.

The guidelines say that seminary directors should consider sexual orientation as only one aspect of a candidate’s personality.

They do not change the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching that “homosexual tendencies” are “intrinsically disordered,” and that men with “deep-seated” gay tendencies should not become priests. But they clarify that if a candidate remains chaste, his sexual orientation should not disqualify him from entering the priesthood.

The Catholic church has struggled for years with the contradiction that the priesthood has long been a refuge for gay men, while church teaching rejects same-sex relations.

Bishops in other countries where homosexuality is regularly condemned are not likely to consider guidelines similar to those of the Italian bishops.

The guidelines — adopted by the Italian Bishop’s Conference in November and approved by the Vatican’s clergy office — went into effect on Thursday for a three-year trial period. They cover various aspects of a candidate’s years in seminaries, the schools that prepare men for priesthood.

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