Pope Francis says Italian seminaries should reject gay applicants

Pope Francis informed the Italian bishops’ convention to not permit gay males to enter the seminary to coach for the priesthood, in response to Italian media studies.

The pope’s phrases took many abruptly given his openness to the L.G.B.T. group all through his hold forth. Francis famously replied “Who am I to guage?” when requested a few “homosexual foyer” on the Vatican on the airplane trip again from World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013.

However in his remarks to the bishops, the pope voiced what has been the official place of the Vatican since 2005 when the Congregation for Catholic Schooling, with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI, issued a doc on the query, titled “Instruction Regarding the Standards for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Individuals with Gay Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders.” That doc was subsequently endorsed by Pope Francis in 2016.

Francis made the remarks throughout a 90-minute, closed-door assembly within the Vatican’s outdated synod corridor with the greater than 200 members of the Italian bishops’ convention final Monday, Could 20.

Because the starting of his hold forth, Francis has engaged in question-and-answer periods on the convention’s twice-yearly assembly. There may be to this point no official textual content of the pope’s remarks to the convention final Monday. The remarks, first reported by Dagospia, a information outlet that focuses on confidential info and scoops, had been subsequently reported by the main Italian dailies, La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera, however haven’t been formally confirmed.

An knowledgeable supply, who didn’t wish to be recognized, informed America that he first discovered of the information on Could 21 from three Italian bishops who had been on the assembly.

The query relating to homosexuality and seminarians has been beneath dialogue for a while by the Italian bishops’ convention, and in response to Il Corriere della Sera, at their assembly in Assisi final November, they “had accepted a brand new doc ‘Ratio Formationis Sacerdotalis,’ not but accepted by the Holy See, regulating admission to and formation in [Italian] seminaries, wherein they accepted by majority vote an modification that acknowledged the excellence between easy gay orientation and ‘deeply rooted tendencies.’”

This, the paper reported, meant “in substance, {that a} gay individual may very well be admitted to the seminary if, just like the heterosexual, he gave the assure that he is aware of how one can reside the self-discipline of celibacy. The implication is that it’s harder for homosexuals as a result of they are going to be residing in an all-male group for a few years.” However, the paper noticed, “evidently Pope Francis has a extra radical imaginative and prescient: to keep away from issues of this type, gay individuals shouldn’t be admitted to the seminary. Full cease!”

La Repubblica reported a lot the identical however added that two or three bishops raised questions on this topic finally week’s assembly with the pope, and certainly one of them explicitly requested Francis what he as a bishop ought to do “when an brazenly declared gay knocks on the door of the seminary.” The paper stated, “The pope, who already up to now had manifested his opposition to this [entry], responded in a firmly unfavourable manner, whereas emphasizing that respect is because of each individual no matter their sexual orientation.”

In accordance with La Repubblica, Francis stated that “it’s obligatory to place down markers, and forestall the danger that the homosexual one who chooses the priesthood may later find yourself residing a double-life, persevering with to apply homosexuality, whereas on the similar time affected by this dissimulation.”

Il Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica and Dagospia report that Francis, whose native language is Spanish, not Italian, and who typically makes use of colloquial language in dialog, stunned bishops by utilizing the Italian phrase “frociaggine,” which is a derogatory time period for “queerness” in Italian. It isn’t clear if he was conscious of the phrase’s offensive nature. The primary Italian dailies quoted him as saying that “there’s an excessive amount of frociaggine in seminaries.” Numerous sources right here say the pope’s use of “frociaggine” was a gaffe on the a part of the pope, fairly than a slur, given the pope’s “Who am I to guage?” angle towards homosexual monks.

The Vatican doc issued in 2005 states:

[T]his Dicastery, in accord with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Self-discipline of the Sacraments, believes it essential to state clearly that the Church, whereas profoundly respecting the individuals in query, can’t admit to the seminary or to holy orders those that practise homosexuality, current deep-seated gay tendencies or assist the so-called “homosexual tradition.”

La Repubblica notes that this query seems to be an merchandise on the agenda of one of many 10 research teams that Pope Francis has established in relation to the Synod on Synodality that may maintain its closing session subsequent October. The outcomes of the working teams are unlikely to be prepared in time for that meeting however should present enter.

Correction, Could 27, 2024: Attributable to an enhancing error, this text initially said incorrectly that the Rio World Youth Day was in 2016.