Gays and the Priesthood

Via Andrew Sullivan, the National Catholic Reporter says that Pope Benedict XVI may soon make a decision regarding the ordination of gays.

Sources indicate that the long-awaited Vatican document on the admission of homosexuals to seminaries is now in the hands of Pope Benedict XVI. The document, which has been condensed from earlier versions, reasserts the response given by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2002, in response to a dubium submitted by a bishop on whether a homosexual could be ordained: "A homosexual person, or one with a homosexual tendency, is not fit to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders."

That reply was published in the November-December 2002 issue of Notitiae, the official publication of the congregation.

It is up to Benedict XVI to decide whether to issue the new document as it stands, to send it back for revision, or to shelve it on the basis that for now such a document is "inopportune."

As a bishop is quoted saying later in the article, you'd think that there'd be no problem with gay men receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Since homosexuality is not in itself a sinful state, and seeing as the the priesthood requires celibacy, the "problem" sort of solves itself. But I'm not holding out too much hope that ol' Ratzy makes the right call on this one. After all, even though the Church is backtracking a bit here, this is the same guy who thinks that the popularity of Harry Potter books is just another manifestation of the insidious creep of il diablo.