U.S. Vatican ambassador says new document on homosexuality will make Church stronger

Vatican City, Nov 22, 2005 / 22:00 pm

Remarking yesterday on the long-awaited release of a Vatican document regarding admission of homosexuals to Catholic seminaries, the U.S.’s ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Rooney said that ultimately, he thinks the new document will strengthen the Church.

The ambassador, who is also former mayor of Boston, said that "the clergy sex abuse scandal exposed the Church to a deep rooted problem which Pope Benedict XVI could not ignore."

"Pedophile priests”, he said, “will be prosecuted and active homosexual men will no longer become priests. Both of these policies will ultimately make the Catholic Church stronger."

The Vatican confirmed yesterday afternoon that a 6-page document, leaked by an Italian Catholic news organization was indeed, the Congregation for Catholic Education’s long-awaited instruction.

As expected, the document excludes the admission of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies to the priesthood and maintains that priestly candidates should attain affective maturity so to “relate properly” with both men and women.

It also asks that he develop in himself “a true sense of spiritual fatherhood for the ecclesial community that will be entrusted to him.”