But you can be "just a little bit" gay, apparently.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Practicing homosexuals should be barred from entering the Roman Catholic priesthood, the Vatican says, taking a strict line on the place of gays in the clergy, an issue that has divided the faithful worldwide.
Um, correct me if I'm wrong, I really don't keep up with the Catholics, but I thought that all priests were supposed to be celibate. So, how is this news?
An eagerly awaited Vatican document said the Church would also bar men with "deep-seated" gay tendencies and those who support gay culture but would admit those who clearly overcame homosexual tendencies for at least three years.
The gay culture? I have yet to figure out what that is, exactly.
The document reinforces standing policy that many in the Church believe has not been properly enforced. Its urgency has been highlighted by the 2002 sexual abuse scandal in the United States, which involved mostly abuse of teenage boys by priests.
The document, which covers one of the most sensitive issues in the Roman Catholic Church, does not affect those men who are already priests but only those entering seminaries to prepare for the priesthood.
So if you are already a raging queen like Ratzinger, you are good to go.
Will the Catholic Church address pedophilia? No? Then what does this have to do with the "sexual abuse scandals"?
The document, only 21 paragraphs long, restates Church teaching that deep-seated homosexual tendencies are "objectively disordered" and that homosexual acts are grave sins.
The official English version of the document then adds:
"In light of such teaching, this dicastery (Vatican department) ... believes it necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to Holy Orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture."
The document, an "instruction" by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, makes a difference between deep-seated homosexual tendencies and what it calls "the expression of a transitory problem."
"Nevertheless, such tendencies must be clearly overcome at least three years before ordination to the deaconate," it says, referring to a position just one step short of the priesthood which usually precedes ordination by about a year.
"In order to admit a candidate to ordination to the deaconate, the Church must verify, among other things, that the candidate has reached affective maturity," it says.
In other words- don't get caught with Madonna CD's, or singing Broadway showtunes, and make sure hide your flair for decorating.
OK, that's some real bad stereotyping there- but not as bad as the Vatican documents. "Transitory problem" just shows how ignorant the Church really is- and how they obviously won't address the real problems they face. Gays are such a convenient scapegoat. Since it's been estimated that as much as 40% of priests are gay, it would be a catastrophe if they decided they were incompatible with the Church and left. I honestly don't know how they stay as it is. But, that is why the Vatican put all these caveats in here- they realize this fact, too.
So, as long as you are just a little bit gay, or are already a priest, you're fine. Problem solved.