Vatican Says Homo a No-go

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican is toughening its stand against gay candidates for the priesthood, specifying in a new document that even men with ``transitory'' homosexual tendencies must overcome their urges for at least three years before entering the clergy.

A long-awaited ``Instruction,'' due to be released next week, was posted Tuesday on the Internet by the Italian Catholic news agency Adista. A church official who has read the document confirmed its authenticity; he asked that his name not be used because the piece has not been published by the Vatican.

Critics of the policy warned that, if enforced, it will likely result in seminarians lying about their orientation and will decrease the already dwindling number of priests in the United States. Estimates of the percentage of gays in U.S. seminaries and the priesthood range from 25 percent to 50 percent, according to a research review by the Rev. Donald Cozzens, an author of ``The Changing Face of the Priesthood.''

The document from the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education says the church deeply respects homosexuals. But it also says it ``cannot admit to the seminary and the sacred orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture.''

``Those people find themselves, in fact, in a situation that presents a grave obstacle to a correct relationship with men and women. One cannot ignore the negative consequences that can stem from the ordination of people with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies,'' it said. ``If instead it is a case of homosexual tendencies that are merely the expression of a transitory problem, for example as in the case of an unfinished adolescence, they must however have been clearly overcome for at least three years before ordination as a deacon.''

*To read the story in its entirety, click here.

Still looking for more gay-bashing fun under the guise of God's will? Well, look no further! Check out this whimsical game I found over at God Hates Fags.com: