WASHINGTON (DC)
The New York Times
By NEELA BANERJEE
Published: December 2, 2005
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 - A cover letter attached to a Vatican directive that would bar most gay men from entering seminaries also prohibits priests with "homosexual tendencies" from teaching or running seminaries.
The letter, first reported by Catholic News Service, was dated Nov. 4 and sent to Roman Catholic bishops and signed by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Vatican's congregation on education, which devised the directive. A copy of the letter was provided to The New York Times by Origins, a unit of the news service that publishes church documents.
The directive "does not call into question the validity of the ordination" of priests "with homosexual tendencies," the letter noted. But the letter said that "because of the particular responsibility of those charged with the formation of future priests, they are not to be appointed as rectors or educators in seminaries." The letter and the directive do not define "homosexual tendency."