Witch-hunt fears after Vatican's ruling on homosexuality

VATICAN CITY - Catholic liberals have slammed the Vatican's decision to bar "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies from the priesthood in the first major ruling by Pope Benedict XVI.

Opponents have said the ruling could trigger a witch-hunt and force gay clergy underground but Catholic leaders stressed it was merely emphasising the need for all candidates for the priesthood to be mature enough to control their sexuality.

The document said that practising homosexuals, those with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or those who support "gay culture" should be weeded out by bishops and principals of theological colleges.

However, the "instruction" by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education said that candidates who had experienced homosexual leanings during a passing phase could be ordained if they had clearly overcome them for at least three years.

Conservatives argued the reform is necessary as theological colleges in the West have adopted an increasingly relaxed attitude to homosexuality, reflecting changes in social attitudes.

The present Pope was deeply alarmed by the clerical abuse crisis in the United States. But gay rights campaigners accuse the Vatican of using homosexuals as scapegoats for the scandal, and liberals in the Church said that a large number of its most effective priests were homosexual.

Any effort to crack down on them would have a severe impact on clergy morale, they said.

The document does not affect men who are already priests, only those applying to enter the priesthood. It urges Catholics to reject homophobia and to show respect for homosexuals, saying that deep-seated homosexual tendencies were "objectively disordered" and often constituted "a trial" for gay people.

It said that theological colleges had a duty to ensure that candidates did not "present disturbances of a sexual nature which are incompatible with the priesthood".

Donald Cozzens, an American priest and author of The Changing Face of the Priesthood, estimates that up to 30 per cent of priests in this country are homosexual.

- INDEPENDENT