What Will the Bishops Do Next?

By Jeff Israely/ Rome

It no longer appears a question of if, but how the Vatican will try to restrict homosexuals from joining the priesthood. As 256 of the world's bishops gathered in Rome for a three-week synod--the first under Pope Benedict XVI--details filtered out to the Italian press that something a bit less draconian than a blanket ban was in the works. A long-shelved document providing specific admission instructions to seminaries is expected to be issued in November. The "instruction" from the Congregation for Catholic Education would add some teeth to a long-standing but often loosely enforced ban on the ordination of gays, but it would also allow seminary officials some leeway.

The new directive updates a 1961 document that bars from the priesthood "those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty." According to the leading Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, and other newspapers, the new instruction provides much more specific guidance on whom to exclude. First, it is said to eliminate from consideration anyone who has engaged in gay sexual relations in the previous three years. Second, it would bar those who openly declare their homosexuality or take part in gay life by, say, visiting gay-oriented websites and bookstores and gay-pride events. According to the National Catholic Reporter, a third, more loosely defined strike would go against seminary candidates whose homosexual orientation is sufficiently "strong" and "permanent" as to make the all-male environment of a seminary a temptation to sexual activity. Gays already in the priesthood would not be affected by the new document, which was signed by Benedict in September, according to Corriere della Sera.

A senior Vatican official told TIME that a more absolute ban on homosexuality would be impossible to enforce. "What does it mean to be gay?" he asks. "You have to acknowledge the complexity of the situation, but you also have to enforce the discipline." The first step, according to this official, is ridding the priesthood of those who proudly acknowledge a gay identity. "It's almost like glorying in the sin," he said. The church says gays should be treated with dignity, but its 1992 update of the catechism calls homosexual acts "intrinsically disordered."

Yet restricting gays from the priesthood may not be just a question of staying true to doctrine. Sources close to then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger say he was outraged by details of the clergy sex-abuse crisis in the U.S. and elsewhere and the high rate of priests preying on teenage boys. And although there is no correlation between homosexuality and pedophilia, the current Vatican thinks cracking down on the former will help correct the latter.

Still, in its official deliberations last week, neither the abuse scandals nor the issue of homosexual clergy came up in more than 100 remarks made during the first five days, despite the fact that Benedict invited the synod to engage in its first "free discussion" segment. One piece of sobering news, however, was repeatedly raised: the shortage of priests around the world, no matter what their sexual inclination.