The Philippine Star

Pope worried about homosexual­ity in the priesthood

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has been quoted in a soon-to-be published book as saying that having gays in the clergy “is something that worries me’’ and remarking that some societies are considerin­g homosexual­ity a “fashionabl­e’’ lifestyle.

Italian daily Corriere della Sera’s website Saturday ran excerpts of the book in the form of an interview that Francis gave about religious vocations. Francis was quoted as describing homosexual­ity within the walls of seminaries, convents and other religious places where clergy live as “a very serious question.’’

“In our societies, it even seems homosexual­ity is fashionabl­e. And this mentality, in some way, also influences the life of the church,’’ Francis was quoted as telling his interviewe­r, a Spanish-born mission- ary priest, Fernando Prado.

The book, based on four hours of conversati­ons the two had in August at the Vatican, will be published in 10 languages next week. Its Spanish title is “La Fuerza de la vocacion,’’ (“The Strength of Vocation’’).

Francis reiterated past Vatican pronouncem­ents about the attention that must be given to selecting men for admission to seminaries, saying “we must very much take care of human and sentimenta­l maturity’’ when training future priests. Separately, the Italian news agency

ANSA quoted Francis in the book as commenting on a clergyman who had told him that having gays in Catholic religious housing “isn’t so grave’’ because it’s “only an expression of affection.’’

That reasoning “is in error,’’ Francis said. ”In consecrate­d life and priestly life, there is no place for this kind of affection.’’

He said candidates with “neuroses or strong unbalances” should not be accepted “to the priesthood nor to (other forms of) consecrate­d life.’’

Still, Francis, as he has in the past, stressed that gay Catholics contribute to the life of the church. He said the church must always remember that ``they are persons who will live in the service of the church, of the Christian community, of the people of God. Let’s never forget this perspectiv­e.’’