UNITED STATES
The Washington Times
By Julia Duin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
September 23, 2005
Pope Benedict XVI will move soon against homosexuality in the Catholic priesthood by issuing a Vatican "instruction" forbidding even celibate homosexuals from entering seminary.
Seen as a response to the sexual-abuse crisis, which has cost the Catholic Church in the United States more than $1 billion in lawsuits, the instruction will be released next month.
"Both the present Holy Father and many Catholic scholars and commentators have realized the sexual-abuse crisis was a sign of something much deeper and more widespread," said the Rev. Joseph Fessio, editor-in-chief of Ignatius Press in San Francisco, "such as the rejection of Catholic teaching, especially in the area of sexual ethics."
The document will be issued by the Congregation for Catholic Education, which oversees 113,000 seminarians worldwide, and reports of its imminent release already has caused a furor in Catholic circles.