News

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

INDAIATUBA, BRAZIL, May 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -  The Vice-President of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB) has made a statement appearing to contradict the Vatican's prohibition on homosexuals in the priesthood, according to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

Asked about homosexuals in the priesthood, Archbishop Luis Soares Vieira of Manaus reportedly responded that “They are human beings. They have that constitution and they should be treated like people, with respect. Now, what is required of a heterosexual for being a priest, is required also of the homosexual.  If he is to enter into celibacy, he must live in chastity.”
The statements of the Archbishop, which were made following the approval of a document on priestly celibacy, seem to contradict the Vatican's repeated and clear rulings against allowing homosexuals to become priests.

In 2005, the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education said in a written statement to the world's bishops that “it is necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture.'”
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone reiterated the ruling in a statement directed to all of the world's bishops in 2008, specifying that the prohibition applies “for all houses of formation for the priesthood, including those under the Dicasteries for Eastern Churches, for the Evangelization of Peoples, and for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.”

Other, similar statements have been made by Vatican officials in recent decades, including a directive against homosexuals in the priesthood issued in 1961 under Pope John XXIII.

Homosexualist websites in Brazil are republishing Archbishop Vieira's statements.
To respectfully email the Archbishop: [email protected]

Related Links:
Homosexuals can be preists if they are celibate, says CNBB bishop (in Portuguese)
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u559424.shtml

Homosexuals Not Permitted in Any Seminaries, Reaffirms Vatican
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052009.html

Vatican's 2005 Instruction Prohibiting Homosexuals in the Priesthood
https://www.zenit.org/article-14693?l=english

Learn more about the connection between homosexuality and the sex abuse crisis:
https://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kralis/040227
https://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2002/0211fea2.asp