(Picture taken from the website of the Archdiocese of Manila)
Cardinal Rosales says gay priests OK but...
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:57:00 05/20/2008
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:57:00 05/20/2008
MANILA, Philippines—The Manila Archbishop Monday said that having homosexual Catholic priests wouldn’t be “too bad” as long as they didn’t “act out” their “tendencies.”
In an interview on Church-run Radio Veritas, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales acknowledged that gay men had been accepted into the priesthood because “even if [the priest] has [homosexual] inclinations, it does not immediately mean that he is evil.”
Distinction
The cardinal noted that such priests had chosen “to make a distinction between inclination and acting out.”
“A homosexual inclination is not bad but acting it out is an entirely different matter, and that is what is written in the sacred scriptures,” he added.
Rosales explained that this had been the stand of Pope Benedict XVI who, he said, was “not condemning homosexuals” per se when he confronted the issue of pedophile priests during his recent visit to the United States.
He noted that when Benedict declared in New York that “the Church needs holy priests, not many priests,” the latter was speaking out particularly against men of the cloth who had sexually abused children and brought shame to the Church.
Fact-finding body
In this country, Rosales said, complaints against priests who commit sexual abuse may be raised before bishops. The subject priest would be made to answer the allegations before a fact-finding body.
If found meritorious, the case would be elevated to the Vatican, where it would be decided whether the priest should be defrocked, Rosales said. Jeanette I. Andrade
Given that Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales is the acknowledged spiritual leader of the third largest Catholic country in the world (with some 6,000+ seminarians), head of one of the world's largest cardinalatial sees (Manila, which is also a hub for seminarians from all over Asia and Africa) and one of the most eminent prelates of Asia, his interpretation of the recent Vatican instructions regarding homosexual seminarians and priests is bound to have massive influence.
While the Cardinal's stance against priests who commit sexual abuse is laudable, his interpretation of the Holy See's directives against homosexuals in the priesthood is gravely mistaken, to say the least.
The Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders clearly states that:
"In the light of such teaching, this dicastery, in accord with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, believes it necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called "gay culture."
Such persons, in fact, find themselves in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women. One must in no way overlook the negative consequences that can derive from the ordination of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies."
Incidentally, the Philippine Daily Inquirer is by no means an "anticlerical" paper, and has a history of strongly supporting the more "socially-oriented" sectors of the Catholic Church as well as Cardinal Rosales.
