The Holy See has issued a clarification aimed at all those house of formation who tried to argue that somehow the 2005 Instruction that said No Homosexuals in the Seminary did not actually mean No Homosexuals in the Seminary. The clarification is also aimed at those who, if not denying that the document said what it said, somehow construed that it did not apply to them.

The Secretary of State has now issued a clarification that essentially says, “What part of no did you not understand?” From Rorate:

“Regarding the Document of the Congregation for Catholic Education, ‘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’, published by the same Dicastery on November 4, 2005, and following numerous requests of clarification made to the Apostolic See, it is clarified that the dispositions contained in said Instruction are valid for all the Formation Houses for the priesthood, including the ones which are linked to the Dicasteries for Oriental Churches [Seminaries of Eastern Churches], for the Evangelization of Peoples [Seminaries in Mission areas], and for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life [Seminaries of Religious Orders].

“The Supreme Pontiff approved this clarification on the 8th of April of the year of the Lord of 2008.”

Published in today’s edition of L’Osservatore Romano

Is it my imagination or does this clarification contain some tone? The sense of frustration that some Bishops and others continue to ignore the legitimate instructions that come from the Holy See is palpable. The Papal patience with these recalcitrant Bishops and their minions is wearing thin.

Here is my unsolicited and ill considered advice for the Pontiff. You need to perform a public hanging. Re-assign one of the defiant to a most unenviable post. Maybe to the leadership of the Congregation for Relations with the Radical Traditionalists and Sedevacantists or the Bishopric of Kyrgyzstan. If you do that, these other defiant by default will certainly think twice.