On October 30 the Congregation for Catholic Education will issue a new document entitled, “Orientations For The Use Of Psychological Competencies In The Admission And Formation Of Candidates To The Priesthood.”

The document will be presented by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the congregation, Msgr. Jean-Louis Brugues, the congregation’s secretary, and Father Carlos Bresciani, a psychologist and consulter.

It will be available in Italian, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese, and it will address the complex issue of the importance and the limits of psychology in the evaluation and formation of seminarians.

According to a Vatican official consulted by CNA, the document “is intended to propose clear criteria for establishing an adequate balance between recourse to psychology and spirituality, in order to avoid falling into both a psychology that ignores sin and grace, and a spirituality that overlooks factors related to the human mind and affectivity.”