VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- New Vatican norms aim to bar from the priesthood men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies, not those who may have experienced and overcome transitory episodes, a Vatican official said.
Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, head of the Congregation for Catholic Education, strongly defended the document in an interview with Vatican Radio Nov. 29, the day it was officially released at the Vatican. Vatican Radio posted the transcript of the interview.
Cardinal Grocholewski said the document's distinction between deep-seated and transitory homosexual tendencies was important.
"Obviously, if we speak of deep-seated tendencies, this means that on the other hand there can also be transitory tendencies or transitory cases that do not constitute an obstacle," he said. "For example, some curiosity during adolescence; or accidental circumstances in a state of drunkenness; or particular circumstances, like someone who was in prison for many years."