Letter of Pope Leo IX to Peter the Hermit Praises the Servant of God for the Book of Gomorrah and Sets Penalties for Clerics Who Are Guilty of Sodomy
(A.D. 1049)
LEO THE BISHOP, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved son in Christ, Peter the hermit, the joy of everlasting happiness.
(2) The short book which you have written against the four-fold defilement of carnal pollution in becoming prose, but with still more becoming reasoning, my dear son, manifests with obvious evidence that the concentration of your mind with loving zeal has arrived at the resplendent bed of sparkling purity. For one like you who has so raised the arm of the spirit against the obscenity of lust, has surely subdued the savagery of the flesh. This execrable vice sets one far apart from the author of virtue who, since he is pure, admits of nothing that is impure. Nor can one who will subject himself to sordid pleasure share in his company. Clerics, indeed, whose most impure life you in your prudence have lamentably and also intelligently discussed, verily and most assuredly will have no share in his inheritance, from which by their voluptuous pleasures they have withdrawn. If they lived purely, they would be called, not only the holy temple of the Lord, but also his very sanctuary, in which with snow white splendor the illustrious Lamb of God is offered, by whom the foul corruption of all the world is washed away. Such clerics, indeed profess, if not in words, at least by the evidence of their actions, that they are not what they are thought to be.
(3) For how can one be or be called a cleric, who of his own free will has no fear of defilement by his own hands, or by the hands of another, touching carnally his own private parts or those of others, or with detestable unnaturalness fornicating within the thighs or from the rear. Concerning such men, since you are motivated by sacred fury to write what seemed appropriate to you, it is proper that we intervene, according to your wishes, with our apostolic authority, so that all anxiety and doubt be removed from the minds of your readers. So let it be certain and evident to all that we are in agreement with everything your book contains, opposed as it is like water to the fire of the devil. Therefore, lest the wantonness of this foul impurity be allowed to go unpunished, it must be repelled by proper repressive action of apostolic severity, and yet some moderation must be placed on its harshness.
(4) And thus, all those who are defiled in any way by the four types of filth which have been mentioned, are, in consideration of due censure, deposed by our judgment and that of sacred canons from all the ranks of the Church which is immaculate. But acting more humanely, and relying on divine mercy, it is our wish and also our command that those who will with their own hands or with one another have practiced masturbation, or have sinned by ejecting semen within the thighs, but have not done so for any length of time, nor with many others, if they shall have curbed their desires and have atoned for their infamous deeds with proper repentance, shall be admitted to the same grades to which, while they were practicing these crimes, they had not devoted their lives.
We remove all hope of recovering their order from those who alone or with others for a long time, or for even a short period or with many, have defiled themselves by either of the two kinds of filthiness which you have described, or, which is horrible to hear or to speak of, have sunk to the level of anal intercourse.
Should anyone dare to criticize or to attack this decree bearing apostolic sanction, let him be aware that he does so with the risk of losing his rank. For he who does not attack vice, but deals lightly with it, is rightly judged to be guilty of his death, along with the one who dies in sin.
(5) But, dearest son, I rejoice indescribably that you promote by the example of your life whatever you have taught by your eloquence. For it is greater to teach by action than by words (bold added). Wherefore, with the help of God may you attain the palm of victory and rejoice with the Son of God and of the Virgin in our heavenly home, abounding in many rewards, and crowned, in a sense, with all those who were snatched by you from the snares of the devil.
The End
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We've been waiting nine long years for this document on homosexuals in the seminary. It has a long-winded title: "Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations With Regard to Persons With Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders" (hereafter "Concerning").
The document was obviously written by a committee - or many committees - and it intended to satisfy as many people as possible. But we are not satisfied, not in the least.
Bear in mind that this document is about "discipline" (or shall we say ill-discipline).
The most egregious sentence is that those "who practice homosexuality" (italics added) are "profoundly respected." So we should have profound respect for those who commit homosexual acts, which are mortal sins. By that logic, we should have profound respect for fornicators, adulterers, and child molesters.
On February 2, 1961, the Holy See promulgated a document called "Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and Sacred Orders," signed by Pope John XXIII. The relevant section had one sentence on homosexuality: "Advancement to religious vows and ordination should be barred to those who are afflicted with the evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty, since for them the common life and the priestly ministry would constitute serious danger" (#30; italics added). That's all that the new document, "Concerning," needed to say.
So how do we go from "evil tendencies" (i.e., orientation only) to having "profound respect" for homosexual acts in "Concerning"?
Up until "Concerning," the 1961 document was never abrogated and was still in force. Indeed, on May 16, 2002, the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments reiterated the policy: "Ordination to the diaconate and the priesthood of homosexual men or men with homosexual tendencies is absolutely inadvisable and imprudent and, from the pastoral point of view, very risky. A homosexual person, or one with a homosexual tendency is not, therefore, fit to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders." It was published in the November-December issue of Notitiae, which means it is the position of the Holy See. Of course, this policy had been and continued to be violated by many bishops, major superiors, seminary rectors, and vocations directors.
...
This certainly opens up a can of worms. So you can be in jail for "many years" and commit homosexual acts, and still you can be admitted to the seminary. You can commit homosexual acts in a "drunken state" or under the influence of illegal "drugs," and that's O.K. You can commit homosexual acts "to obtain some sort of advantage," and that's O.K. You can "please" a superior or someone else, and that's O.K. You can commit homosexual acts to earn money -- which would include being a "gay" male prostitute -- and that's O.K. Good golly, Miss Molly, it's a free-for-all!
https://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/a02uDocument_Vree.html
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