VATICAN: Homosexual men who can show that they have lived chastely for at least three years can be admitted to the priesthood, a forthcoming Vatican document on gays and the priesthood will say, according to an Italian newspaper yesterday.
However, men who publicly show their homosexuality and those who reveal an attraction to the homosexual lifestyle and culture should be refused admission to the priesthood, the document states, according to the daily Corriere della Sera.
The report, by the newspaper's Vatican correspondent, Luigi Accattoli, cited sources who spoke to him about the document, which is an "instruction" from the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education.
The Italian news weekly Panorama said in yesterday's edition that Pope Benedict XVI had approved the document during the summer. A Vatican official declined to comment on the reports, saying only that the document would be published "very soon".
Meanwhile, a leading cardinal has attacked Catholic politicians who back abortion rights and gay marriage, saying that they should be denied the Eucharist. Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, made his comments in a tough speech to the Synod on the Eucharist in Rome.
The cardinal said it was bad enough when Catholic politicians defended divorce but "much worse" when they defended the rights of homosexual couples.
In a speech released by the Vatican, he called gay marriages and allowing gays to adopt children "these legalistic fakes".
Addressing an audience of bishops, Cardinal Lopez Trujillo said: "All these tendencies, which can invade so many nations, are clearly contrary to divine law and to God's Commandments, and they clearly violate natural law."
He then directed his criticism at Catholic politicians who support such laws, saying: "Can we permit those who deny human and Christian values to receive Communion? The responsibility of politicians is great. They cannot separate [ their] personal positions from sociopolitical duties."
The issue of the duty of Catholic politicians led to a divisive debate in the United States last year and prompted demands for excommunication of the Democratic Party candidate for the presidency, Senator John Kerry, because of his support for abortion rights.