CLEAR VATICAN STATEMENT AGAINST ORDINATION OF HOMOSEXUALS
VATICAN, Dec 5, 02 (CWNews.com) -- A leading Vatican official has confirmed the Church's position that men with homosexual tendencies should not be ordained.
In a letter dated May 16, 2002, Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez-- who was, at the time, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship-- said: "Ordination to the diaconate or priesthood of persons with homosexual tendencies is absolutely unadvisable and imprudent, and from a pastoral point of view, extremely risky." The letter by Cardinal Medina Estevez, which was a response to a query from a bishop, has now been published in the November-December edition of a bulletin put out by the Congregation for Divine Worship.
An unidentified bishop had written to the Congregation for the Clergy, seeking a definitive answer regarding Vatican policy on the ordination of men with homosexual tendencies. That Congregation handed the question over to the Congregation for Divine Worship, prompting the response from Cardinal Medina Estevez.
The cardinal's letter indicates that he was replying to the query from the unnamed bishop (who is understood to have been American) after having consulted with other Vatican dicasteries, including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as well as the Congregation for the Clergy. He said that he had also been guided by previous Vatican statements, and had taken into account the lessons that had been derived from many requests for dispensation from the priesthood.
Earlier, in 1997, the Congregation for Divine Worship had circulated a letter to the world's bishops, proposing some guidelines for the selection of candidates for priestly ordination. Among the required characteristics were "sufficient affective maturity and a clearly masculine sexual identity."
The Congregation for Catholic Education is expected to take up the same topic in a document that will appear in the near future, intended for the guidance of seminary rectors.
Since writing his answer to the bishop's request, Cardinal Medina Estevez has stepped down as the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. That post is now held by Cardinal Francis Arinze.
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