Site details Vatican policy against gays in priesthood

ROME -- Men who have ''deep-rooted homosexual tendencies" or who sustain a ''gay culture" may not be trained to become Roman Catholic priests, the Vatican says in a new document posted yesterday on a Catholic news website.

However, the church says, if a man had ''transitory" homosexual tendencies that have been ''overcome" for at least three years, he may be admitted to a seminary, the school that trains priests.

The document was quickly criticized by some gay rights sympathizers, who say the church does not understand homosexuality.

Many details of the document had leaked out in advance of the Vatican's official release of the new instructions, scheduled for Nov. 29, most recently in the daily newspaper Il Giornale of Milan nearly two weeks ago. But the Internet publication yesterday by Adista, an Italian Catholic news service, represented the first time the document in its entirety has been disclosed.

The new instructions are basically a reaffirmation of the church's long-standing ban on ordaining active gays into the priesthood. They repeat a 1961 condemnation of homosexual acts but provide more specific guidelines that were ordered partly in response to the sexual abuse scandal plaguing the church.

Adista said the instructions were signed by Pope Benedict XVI on Aug. 31 and by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski on Nov. 4. Grocholewski is the prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Vatican body in charge of drafting the guidelines.

As expected, the document -- years in the making -- stops short of ordering an absolute ban on homosexuals in the priesthood, as feared in some circles.

Instead, it allows for a more nuanced approach that effectively makes room for gays who are celibate, have been celibate for three years, or do not flaunt any aspect of a gay culture, which church officials have defined as the use of gay movies, books, and websites, and participation in gay pride events.

It also reiterates church teachings as contained in the Catholic Catechism, which state that homosexual acts are immoral and a grave sin, and homosexual tendencies are ''intrinsically disordered."

It encourages ordained priests to help prevent the admission to seminaries of active gays.