The Church

And its policy on ordaining homosexuals into the priesthood. Washington Post:

The document says 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.' "

It adds that men can become priests if their "homosexual tendencies . . . were only the expression of a transitory problem -- for example, that of an adolescence not yet superseded." But those whose homosexuality is deep-seated "find themselves in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women," the official English translation says.

This is the real kicker.

But in Rome, the head of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, said that the problems of homosexual and heterosexual candidates are not equivalent. Although many people think homosexuality is a "normal condition of the human person," he told Vatican Radio, it "absolutely contradicts human anthropology" and violates "natural law."

This statement scares me because it the purports the stereotype that gay men are unable to control their sexual urges around other priests. At this point in Church tradition, priests must remain celibate. No sex with either men or women. It should not matter whether the candidate is gay or straight, he shouldn't be getting any anyway. Gay men are not a separate class. The Church took one step backward with the release of this document.