A new Vatican guideline suggests that gays can now serve as Catholic priests but only if they abstain from sleeping with the same gender.
The new rules issued by Italian bishops will permit gay men to enroll in seminaries a startling change to Catholic Church practice.
Openly gay men can now pursue priestly training according to new guidelines that have been approved by Italian bishops.
They must however continue to be celibate a requirement that already applies to priests who are heterosexual. Whether other nations will adopt the new guidelines is unclear.
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However, prior teachings consider homosexual behaviour to be intrinsically disordered and a 2016 directive stated that men with deep-seated homosexual tendencies are not eligible to serve as priests.
According to Euronews the updated guidelines state that a priest candidate’s sexual preferences should be taken into account during the application process but only as one facet of their personality.
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“When referring to homosexual tendencies in the formation process, it is also appropriate not to reduce the discernment to this aspect alone, but … to understand its meaning within the whole framework of the young person’s personality,” the guidelines say.
