VATICAN CITY: A new Vatican document on homosexuality in the Catholic priesthood touched off a storm of criticism on Wednesday from those who say the Church is missing the point and using gays as scapegoats for its sex scandals. The document, which says the Church can admit those who have clearly overcome homosexual tendencies for at least three years, is due to be released officially next week.
But it said practicing homosexuals and those with “deep-seated” gay tendencies and those who support a gay culture should be barred, a stand which was welcomed by conservatives both in the Catholic Church and in other religions.
“This looks like a diversionary tactic to deflect public attention away from the Vatican’s real problem which is child sex abuse by clergy,” said Peter Tatchell of the British gay pressure group OutRage! “The Pope should be tackling pedophiles within the Church, not witch-hunting gay people,” he said.
The document re-enforces standing policy that many in the Church believe has not been properly enforced. Its urgency has been highlighted by the 2002 sexual abuse scandal in the United States, where some 80 percent of the victims were boys.
While the Vatican has said the document was drafted to deal with the scandals, some critics saw it as a diversionary tactic. “At a time when the Church should be taking responsibility for the harm created by a devastating sex abuse scandal, they are instead using gay people as scapegoats,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a US gay rights group.
“This decree is a diversion that neither keeps children safe nor holds criminals responsible,” he said.
Conservative Catholics have cheered the document, as did some sectors of the Anglican Church, which itself has been split by over the issue of ordaining openly gay clergy.
“That’s a policy that we have been promoting and that we support whole-heartedly,” said Canon Tunde Popoola, director of communications for the Anglican Church of Nigeria. “It gladdens my heart to hear others coming up with such a policy.”
The document does not affect those men who are already priests, but some said it could hurt future vocations.
