The Vatican on Dec. 7 declared that “persons with homosexual tendencies” cannot be admitted to Catholic seminaries. This reaffirms a 2005 policy now seemingly at odds with Pope Francis’ famous response, “Who am I to judge?” when asked about gay priests in 2013. The document, entitled “The Gift of the Priestly Vocation,” was drafted by the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy, and it is meant to offer wide-ranging guidelines for priestly formation. Three of the document’s 210 paragraphs are devoted to “persons with homosexual tendencies” who desire to become priests, drawing primarily from a 2005 document that bans candidates with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies.” Pope Francis approved the document, according to a letter signed by Cardinal Beniamino Stella, who heads the clergy office. Quoting the 2005 teaching, the new document says that men “who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture’” cannot become priests. Men who experience a “transitory” attraction to other men could be admitted to seminaries, it says, though “such tendencies must be clearly overcome at least three years before ordination to the diaconate.”

This article appears in January 2 2017.