Implementation Previously Left to Local Bishops

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, March 27, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The March 14 edition of the U.S. Catholic paper, the Wanderer reports on Vatican reaction to the growing revelations of mostly homosexual sex scandals within the U.S. Catholic Church.

The Holy See has recognized that a major contributor to these sex abuses has been the reluctance of bishops to apply the 1961 document from the Sacred Congregation for Religious which prohibits the admission of homosexuals to the diocesan priesthood and religious orders. The document states: “Those affected by the perverse inclination to homosexuality or pederasty should be excluded from religious vows and ordination,” because priestly ministry would place such persons in “grave danger”.

A March 6 Catholic News Service (CNS) article stated that Vatican officials are “pressing harder so that people of permanent homosexual orientation are screened out as candidates for the priesthood”. The CNS article also reported that the Congregation for Catholic Education is considering a “new document” reformulating the instructions of the 1961 document on the question of admitting homosexuals to seminaries.

See related LifeSite coverage: POPE’S SPOKESMAN SAYS HOMOSEXUALS “JUST CANNOT BE ORDAINED” PRIESTS https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/mar/020304.html#2 CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDAL MORE ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY THAN PEDOPHILIA https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/mar/020322.html#5 ARE PEDOPHILES CRIMINALS OR VICTIMS https://www.lifesitenews.com/interim/2001/jan/05pedophiles.html

See the CNS article: https://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/20020306.htm