Homosexuality and Roman Catholic priests

Homosexual clergy in the Catholic Church refers to ordained homosexual bishops, priests, and deacons in the Catholic Church. It is a contested and controversial study.

The teaching of the church, as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is that homosexual persons, including priests, "must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity", and that "every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided." Regarding gay sexual activity, however, the Catechism states that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered", and that "under no circumstances can they be approved." These prohibitions apply especially to priests, as the canon law of the Catholic Church requires that clerics "observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven". For this reason, priests in Roman Catholic dioceses make vows of celibacy at their ordination, thereby agreeing to remain unmarried and abstinent throughout their lives.

The church distinguishes between "homosexual attractions", which are not considered sinful, and "homosexual acts", which are considered sinful. In 2005 a senior Vatican official confirmed a report in Corriere della Sera that gay men who are closeted and chaste (abstain from sexual activity) for at least three years will still be allowed to become priests, and others have argued that the church would be unable to enforce an outright ban.

In Adomnan of Iona's biography of Columba there is an anecdotal story about a man named Aed Dub, who was ordained to the priesthood by a bishop and a priest who had a carnal love for him. Aed Dub had lived the life of a murderer previously, before joining a monastery. The ordination was said to be invalid because the priest had placed his hand on the head before the bishop. When this ordination was told to Columba, Columba prophesied God's punishment upon both the man ordained and the priest who helped ordain him. He said that the right hand that the priest placed on the man's head would rot and wither away, and the man ordained would be brutally murdered. According to the biography, both of these prophecies were later fulfilled.

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