Francis: Gay Priests Should Leave the Clergy Rather Than Live a Double Life Within the Church

This statement says less than it may first appear to.

He's saying gay priests who are practicing homosexuality should depart the Church. But... that's hardly a new doctrine; the Catholic Church demands that priests be celibate, whether gay or straight.

He doesn't say celibate gay priests should depart; just the ones who are already breaking church law.

He does, however, acknowledge that the secular world's view of homosexuality as "fashionable" influences how it is viewed within the Church, which I think gets a little bit at the problem.

The problem is not that there are actively sexual gay priests in the Church but that there are a lot of actively sexual gay priests in the Church. One corrupt cop in your precinct is no big deal; he'll be found out and turned out.

But if a lot of cops in your precinct are corrupt, they're going to create a Secret System for concealing corruption and protecting their corrupt members.

And that's the problem facing the Church: there's a system in place to protect abusive priests.

Media agitation for gay rights, including inside the supposedly-celibate priesthood, complicates any efforts at reform.

But the real problem is that gay priests in the Church are not demanded to be celibate, only advised to be, and unless their sex life becomes notorious, they'll be shuffled around and protected.

Men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be admitted to the Catholic clergy, and priests who are gay should be celibate or leave rather than lead a double life, Pope Francis said in a new book.

Francis made the comments in a book-length interview with Spanish priest Fernando Prado called "The Strength of Vocation," in which he discusses the challenges of being a priest or nun today.

The pope said in the book that homosexuality in the Church "is something that worries me."

...

"In our societies, it even seems homosexuality is fashionable. And this mentality, in some way, also influences the life of the church," Francis was quoted as telling his interviewer.

Francis is quoted in the book as commenting on a clergyman who had told him that having gays in Catholic religious housing "isn't so grave" because it's "only an expression of affection."

That reasoning "is in error," Francis said. "In consecrated life and priestly life, there is no room for this kind of affection."

“For this reason, the Church urges that persons with this rooted tendency not be accepted into (priestly) ministry or consecrated life,” he said.

He urged homosexuals who are already priests or nuns to be celibate and responsible to avoid creating scandal. "It is better that they leave the priesthood or the consecrated life rather than live a double life," he said. The pope has warned Italian bishops in the past to vet seminarians closely and reject those they suspect might be gay.

posted by Ace of Spades at 02:13 PM

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