The fact that the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church demands celibacy would have made it an attractive career choice for homosexual men. Not only do they get to dress up in those attractive vestments no questions are asked about the fact that they are unmarried. At a time when homosexuality was a criminal offence, when one could not survive socially if one were openly gay the Church was one attractive outlet for gay men. This is not to claim that all priests are gay but rather than it should come as no surprise if gay men should be attracted to the Church. This could also account for the homophobic attitudes implicit in the Church - after all if you had to deny your sexuality would you not want to ensure that everyone else was equally miserable?

As there are many Priests in heterosexual relationships over 30 years. Not something they wish or have chosen to advertise!

Most interesting.

Forget the book's title. It was probably just the publisher's marketing folk, responding to the challenge "give me something that will stand out".

But the article itself does give pause for thought.

Along the lines of: which came first - the vow of celibacy or the homosexual priest?

Sure, a celibate life may be superficially attractive to a sexually confused -or simply fearful - individual. But equally, the imposition of celibacy by the religion itself is an attractive option for a classic command-and-control movement that demands unflinching obedience from its middle management.

But I suspect it may be even more complex than that.

Celibacy is, let's face it, a relatively unnatural human condition. Those who practice it - being totally devoid of first-hand experience (no giggling at the back please) - must live in a permanent state of ignorance of the power and responsibilities involved in being a sexual partner.

Thus, it is not beyond the realm of possibilities that celibate priests are not actually in a position to recognize homosexual tendencies in themselves. Hence, a very real ability to persuade themselves that they cannot possibly be so inclined.

The charitable view, towards which articles like this tend to encourage in me, is that many of these people do not possess the same ability as the rest of us to determine whether they are Arthur or Martha. If a priest finds himself attracted to a bloke, there are no internal voices that say "hey, that's gay"; with no identifiable emotional signals to work with, recognizing sexual attraction of any kind would be almost impossible.

So the "is the Pope gay" argument disappears, simply on the basis that he has no internal signposts that tell him one way or another.

That's not an excuse, by the way, for the rabid homophobia of the religion as a whole. But it might explain why it will take many generations before the Church retreats from its position.

If there are any celibates out there - religiously so, or simply voluntarily so - it would be interesting to hear their views.

I've recently read the book by Dr Paul
Collins, called, "Believers: Does Australian
Catholicism Have A Future?".

According to Dr Collins:

" Generations of gay priests have ministered to
both sexes successfully in the Catholic Church."
Collins tell us that -

"John Boswell's fascinating book, "Christianity,
Social Tolerance and Homosexuality," argues that
from about the 5th century onwards religious
orders provided homosexually-oriented men and
women with a safe heaven from an intolerant and
dangerous world."

As Collins points out,

"Contemporary estimates of the number of gay priests
and seminarians vary widely and the simple fact is
nobody knows how many there are, but what is
clear is that there is a much higher proportion of
gays in the present-day priesthood than in the
general population. Part of the issue is that a
large number of straight priests have left the
active ministry over the last 30 years to get married.
Also a lot of gay priests have been ordained over the
last three decades."

However, I very much doubt that we'll ever know
what the Pope's sexual orientation was/is,
as that subject is one that few people within the church
want discussed. Simply we'll never know unless the
Pope himself (highly unlikely) or someone close to him,
tells us.

The LRB reviewed this book with the title: The Pope Wears Prada. For me the interest in both the book and subsequent discussion lies not in the sexual orientation of Catholic Clergy but rather in the inherent contradiction in a religion that is stridently homophobic and yet provides comfort and shelter to gay men and women.

Some years ago I read an amusing book called "Sex Lives of the Popes".

Clearly the Vatican has a very kinky history! As long as the true
believers can be sold their ticket to heaven, the Vatican will
keep cashing in and living it up in pomp and splendour.

As to Ratzinger, who knows how his sex drive plays out? Clearly
it does not vanish, when people become priests, bishops etc.

Perhaps its just all wet dreams, but I doubt it.

As long as there are millions of suckers who take these people
seriously, the Vatican's future is assured.