By Alex Delmar-Morgan

Reports circulating over the last week that the Vatican will ban homosexuals from becoming priests even if they remain celibate have been met with disgust from Catholic organisations. If the news of the forthcoming publication is true, many predict relationships between the Roman Catholic Communion and other Christian Churches to be severely stretched.

Catholics are worried about the overtly discriminatory nature of such a ban and one that might spark a ‘witch hunt’ against gay clergy. There are also fears that Rome’s decision could make homosexuals a scapegoat for the American child abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church in 2002. Richard Jenkins, director of Affirming Catholicism said: “Any published document will be very different from the incendiary gossip currently circulating which suggests that homosexuals are less capable of chastity than heterosexuals, and implies a link with paedophilia, both of which assertions are abhorrent.”

Richard Kirker, the General Secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, was more candid. He commented: “It would be iniquitous and evil because it would give the impression that the church is wholly unable to accept that God has created lesbian and gay people, some of whom have a vocation to the priesthood. And to deny this would defy 2000 years of Christian history.” The publication which sources say is due to be published in less then three weeks has been drafted by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries. But many are cautious over recent speculation saying that it is wholly untypical of the Vatican to be so tactless. The Rt. Rev John Flack, Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, warned: “It requires a much more nuanced approach than saying we ban homosexuals. Who is to decide who is a homosexual anyway? Is it when people say they are homosexually orientated, or is there going to be some objective testing?” However, some believe Rome’s inflammatory assertions goes against everything that Pope Benedict XVI stands for.

Often labelled as a hard-line conservative, experts say his public perception is distorted. Greg Watts, author of Labourer in the Vineyard, a biography of the Pope said: “He understands human weakness. He recognises that people who don’t arrive at the truth can’t be hit over the head.”