Will They or Won't They?

From the "Curial Chaos" Desk, AP runs a heavy rowback on the reports of the "imminent" Instruction from Catholic Ed banning celibate gay sems.

John Nienstedt, chair of the USCCB Committee on Priestly formation, says it's coming. Romans say it isn't....

One senior Vatican official suggested it might have been shelved, though top American churchmen said it would be coming out soon.

The Vatican press office announced in November 2002, at the height of the sex scandal, that the Congregation for Catholic Education was drawing up guidelines for accepting candidates for the priesthood that would address the question of whether gays should be barred.

The document has been controversial from the start, and there has long been speculation that it may never be released because of its sensitive nature. Some priests have said the document is sorely needed, while others say it will do more harm than good, antagonizing existing homosexual priests and driving others underground.

A senior Vatican official said recent news reports that the document was in the hands of Pope Benedict XVI were "completely wrong" and there was no news on the topic - implying that the document may have been shelved, at least for now.

"There is nothing new," the official said.

If it doesn't come, score 12 for this being a pontificate of substantive Christian living... -12 for the continuation of the Pelvic Inquisition.

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