Did Pope suggest Catholic Church should not take homosexuals into the priesthood?

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Polak

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Don’t mean to look like I am harping on about the gay issue. This is the second topic I am creating on the subject today (no more, I promise).

I had a look at the National Catholic Register website and found an article on the main page (not sure if it was meant to be there) from December 2018. It was an article with an excerpt from a book by Pope Francis (The Strength of a Vocation).

I actually read the article not realising the date it was written, thinking it was news from today. I then realised it was from quite a while ago.

Either way, I’m not completely sure what the Catholic Church’s position on gay priests is. At one time I assumed it was absolutely frowned upon, and at another, given that being gay in itself isn’t a sin unless you act on it, I thought it was okay. Having read some of what the Pope said in this book though, it seems to be pushing to a ‘it isn’t okay’ position.

Some quotes from the book that would suggest this.
The issue of homosexuality is a very serious issue that must be adequately discerned from the beginning with the candidates, if that is the case. We have to be exacting. In our societies it even seems that homosexuality is fashionable and that mentality, in some way, also influences the life of the Church
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and in particular this part.
“It’s a reality we can’t deny. There is no lack of cases in the consecrated life either. A religious told me that, on a canonical visit to one of the provinces in his congregation, he was surprised. He saw that there were good young students and even some already professed religious who were gay,” he said.

The Pope said that the religious “wondered if it were an issue and asked me if there was something wrong with that. Francis said he was told by one religious superior that the issue was not “that serious, it’s just an expression of an affection.”

“That’s a mistake,” Francis warned. “It’s not just an expression of an affection. In consecrated and priestly life, there’s no room for that kind of affection. Therefore, the Church recommends that people with that kind of ingrained tendency should not be accepted into the ministry or consecrated life. The ministry or the consecrated life is not his place.”

We “have to urge homosexual priests, and men and women religious to live celibacy with integrity, and above all, that they be impeccably responsible, trying to never scandalize either their communities or the faithful holy people of God by living a double life. It’s better for them to leave the ministry or the consecrated life rather than to live a double life.”
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Polak said:
I’m not completely sure what the Catholic Church’s position on gay priests is.
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Any man with a deep seated inclination towards homosexual behavior should not be admitted to the priesthood. It is not spiritually beneficial for them to place them in a situation where they will be surrounded exclusively by other young men living in close proximity for the duration of seminary. This is no different from making the prudent discernment that a heterosexual man should not live with women who are not his spouse. It’s just stupid to place yourself in that situation.

Additionally, the abuse scandals have almost exclusively been homosexual in origin. The vast majority of abuse cases have been the priest abusing pubescent/post-pubescent teen boys. (This is contrary to the common media narrative that the abuse is primarily pedophillic in nature.) it makes sense that if we see a strong patter of behavior we would take steps to limit similar activity in the future, and the most prudent step it to stem the root cause which, after honest evaluation of the evidence, clearly seems to be homosexual tendencies.

On top of all of this, it simply isn’t right to put someone who we know is struggling with a gravely-immoral inclination in charge of the spiritual welfare of a parish. This is true for all sorts of disordered inclinations. Men who struggle with pornography aren’t generally admitted to seminary, nor or those who struggle with sexual addiction. The Church must consider what is best for the individual, as well as the Church as a whole, and in so doing it makes perfect sense to exclude certain people from the priesthood.
 
Celibacy not sexual orientation in the issue.

There are many priests and religious brothers with same sex attraction…but, the vast majority are attracted to the opposite sex.

If one, through receiving Holy Orders or joining a religious order, have taken and adhere to vows of celibacy, there is no issue.

Those with attraction to members of their own sex, and those with attraction to women are just as likely to be tempted by carnal desires, and either who acts on them is no better or worse than the other.

I think in many cases what gets people worked up is the errant belief that all pedophiles are homosexuals.
 
There was a thread about it here at the time.
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In new book on clergy and religious life, Pope Francis addresses homosexuality Catholic News
Vatican City, Nov 30, 2018 / 05:00 pm ([CNA](https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/)).- In a book-length interview to be published next week, Pope Francis addressed gifts and challenges for clerical and religious vocations, among them the challenge of homosexuality in the clergy. “The issue of homosexuality is a very serious issue that must be adequately discerned from the beginning with the candidates, if that is the case. We have to be exacting. In our societies it even seems that homosexuality …
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Polak said:
“Therefore, the Church recommends that people with that kind of ingrained tendency should not be accepted into the ministry or consecrated life. The ministry or the consecrated life is not his place“
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As per the quote above. This has been the church’s position for some time. However, the reasons given were not that duch persons are more likely to engage in immoral behaviour.
 
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dscath said:
Those with attraction to members of their own sex, and those with attraction to women are just as likely to be tempted by carnal desires,
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AND
ProdglArchitect said:
Any man with a deep seated inclination towards homosexual behavior should not be admitted to the priesthood. It is not spiritually beneficial for them to place them in a situation where they will be surrounded exclusively by other young men living in close proximity for the duration of seminary.
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I think that what @ProdglArchitect says above is why homosexuality, specifically, is contraindicated with priesthood. I imagine it would be an unbearable burden of temptation for a gay man to be in such a situation, especially given that very deep, soul connections are fostered when you are studying God’s Word, praying together, discussing the deep things of life, and growing spiritually together.
 
I have heard for years, including on this forum that if someone had SSA, and it was deeply rooted or something to that effect that they could not be accepted into the priesthood. I have no idea, if true, when that came into being or any of the details about it, only that I have just read that in several places.
 
Polak said:
It’s not just an expression of an affection. In consecrated and priestly life, there’s no room for that kind of affection. Therefore, the Church recommends that people with that kind of ingrained tendency should not be accepted into the ministry or consecrated life. The ministry or the consecrated life is not his place.”
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That’s clear, firm and should close the matter. Im a traditionalist but I m constantly impressed by the way the Pope stands up for the traditional position hen you least expect it.

Same sex atrraction is particularly dangerous in a same sex environment, which is what the clergy is.
 
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The traditional position IS the Catholic position. That’s the point.

It’s not a lifestyle choice.
 
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A man who is attracted to men lacks the psychological ability to be a good natural father and spouse. How would he ever be a good spiritual father and spouse?
 
billsannie said:
The need is to make the priesthood more attractive to straight, or even gay, emotionally healthy men (or possibly, women).
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It’s a vocation, not a career choice. The more “attractive” the worse.
 
Henri Nouwen, priest who wrote book “The Return of the Prodigal Son”, struggled with homosexuality. Thought the book was lovely though and didn’t find out until after about it. Kind of makes sense now that I think about it. Struggling with being a father to his flock and had some inner reflections on that.
 
“Attractive” was a poor word choice. I meant something more like “less repulsive”. The priesthood is a tough vocation no matter what. But as long as men who are emotionally healthy won’t even consider it as a vocation, we have a problem.
 
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All homosexuals should be denied from the priesthood. They have a disorder and it would be temptation to be in seminary with a bunch of men you are attracted to. Is it a good idea for an alcoholic trying to be sober to hang out in a bar?
 
Maximian said:
The traditional position IS the Catholic position. That’s the point.
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Well yes in a sense, but you can also be a Catholic who follows the teaching of the Catholic Church without being a traditionalist Catholic, if you see what I mean. So in that sense being a traditionalist and being a Catholic and not strictly one and the same.
 
If you want emotionally balanced men to join, you need to get the imbalanced men out. No man who wants to touch other men is emotionally balanced…

There is no possibility for women to be ordained as priests… You may as well decide that since there’s no water in the desert we could baptize with sand there.
 
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