“Those who freely take the decision to live a celibate life at the service of the Church cannot honestly lead a lifestyle that conflicts with this decision or assume attitudes incompatible with the teaching of the Church. If homosexual tendencies in a man make sexual abstinence impossible, admission to the priesthood is impossible. The main objective must consist in taking into account both the task of the Church and that of the individual. We profoundly yearn to ensure that each seminarian and each priest may benefit from a human and spiritual accompaniment that may help them to freely live their chosen form of life, with conviction and in a convincing manner”. In its communiqué on 23 November, the Swiss Bishops’ Conference thus seconded the instructions on the criteria for the admission to seminaries of persons with homosexual tendencies, officially presented in the Vatican on 29 November. “We wish to thank all priests who live their vocation with great fidelity. We are conscious says the press release that there are confreres in our college of priests and our seminaries who have a heterosexual orientation and others who have a homosexual orientation. Each must be accepted and respected as a person and as a brother”. Nonetheless, insist the bishops, “irrespective of our sexual orientation we have decided to live in chastity”.
