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	Vatican Advises 'Psychological Evaluations' for Seminarians By Paddy Agnew Irish Times October 31, 2008 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/1031/1225321589747.html THE VATICAN'S Congregation for Catholic Education yesterday released a document recommending that seminary candidates undergo "psychological evaluations" with regard to potential personality disturbances as well as to their ability to live a celibate life. The document seems to follow on from one issued by the congregation in 2005 which said the Catholic Church cannot ordain men who are active homosexuals or who have "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies. This new document argues that if seminary students demonstrate areas of grave immaturity, then "the path of formation will have to be interrupted". Such areas of "immaturity" included deep-seated homosexual tendencies, unclear sexual identity, difficulty with the celibate life, excessive rigidity of character and lack of freedom in relations. It says special attention should be given to ensuring that celibacy is not "a burden so heavy" that it compromises a candidate's affective and relational equilibrium. As for assessing a candidate's ability to live a celibate life, the document suggests that "it is not enough to be sure that he is capable of abstaining from genital activity" but that it is also necessary "to evaluate his sexual orientation". The congregation's document states that psychological tests could be useful with a view not only to identifying "troubled candidates" but also in helping seminarians through their vocational journey, especially if the candidate needs to overcome "psychological wounds". Speaking at a news conference in the Vatican, however, prefect for Catholic education Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski said the use of psychological tests should become neither "obligatory" nor "ordinary practice". Another speaker, Fr Carlo Bresciani, appeared to allude to the clerical sex abuse issue when suggesting such evaluations were prudent: "One cannot forget that unsuitable people with inconsistencies in their sexual, affective and relational life provoke negative consequences on the church and on the faithful." Meanwhile, it emerged that Pope Benedict may put the canonisation process for wartime pope Pius XII on hold until the entire Vatican archive relative to the pontificate of Pius can be opened up to independent scholars and historians. Rabbi David Rosen, leader of a delegation from the International Jewish Committee for Inter-Religious Consultations, said the pope had confirmed the possibility during a meeting in the Vatican yesterday.
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