Originally published at National Catholic Register
Bishop Stefano Manetti of Fiesole, Italy, clarifies new document on the formation of priests, saying it reiterates past documents that establish that persons with ‘deep-seated’ homosexual tendencies cannot be admitted to seminaries.
The Catholic Church in Italy generated fresh controversy last week when it published a new document on the formation of priests that some media and members of the clergy interpreted as an opening toward the ordination of homosexual men.
Bishop Stefano Manetti of Fiesole, Italy, president of the bishops’ commission for the clergy and consecrated life, has subsequently sought to nip those interpretations in the bud by clarifying in Avvenire, the Italian Bishops’ Conference’s newspaper, that “this is not a correct reading” of the text, titled “The Formation of Priests in Italian Churches: Guidelines and Rules for Seminaries” and posted Jan. 9 on the website of the Dicastery for the Clergy.
The referenced norms were initially approved last November by the Italian bishops when they met in their general assembly in Assisi. Paragraph 44 of the text states among other things that “the objective of the formation of the candidate for the priesthood in the affective-sexual sphere is the ability to accept as a gift, freely choose,
