Bar on gay seminarians is ‘not discrimination’, say Italian bishops

DECIDING not to accept as candidates for the priesthood men with “deeply rooted homosexual tendencies” would not be an act of discrimination, said the general secretary of the Italian bishops’ conference.
The bishops, meeting in Assisi, approved new norms for seminary admittance and the formation of priests, including the rejection of mandatory psychological testing of candidates.
While they provided some information about their discussion, the bishops said they would not release the text of the norms until the Vatican had approved them. Bishop Giuseppe Betori, conference general secretary, said the text includes the key passages cautioning against admitting gay candidates for the priesthood found in an instruction from the Congregation for Catholic Education. Because the Vatican document will not be published until next week, he said he could not provide further details about the limits on accepting homosexuals into the seminary.
He said the Catholic Church has an obligation to discern the qualities it seeks in its priests and “the negative consequences that can arise from the ordination of priests with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies represent an important element for discernment”.
Bishop Betori said that if the bishops decide being homosexual and being a priest are incompatible they would not be engaging in discrimination. “The concept of discrimination can be used in reference to a right, but a vocation is not a right; it is a gift. And this frames the question in a totally different way,” he said.
The bishops passed the norms after spending more than an hour debating the extent to which they should welcome psychological test ing and consultation in seminaries. The bishops rejected mandatory psychological testing of candidates and any mandatory psychological consultation for seminarians prior to ordination.
Archbishop Italo Castellani of Lucca said that while psychology could be helpful in certain areas it cannot be considered part of the “vocational discernment” which the candidate, his bishop, professors and spiritual director are called to conduct.
A seminarian has no obligation to undergo psychological testing or counselling, the archbishop said, although it could be suggested to him.