“In light of such teaching … the church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture,’” although the church differentiates homosexuals from those for whom homosexual tendencies “were only the expression of a transitory problem — for example, that of an adolescence not yet superseded.”

— the Vatican’s statement, published today, regarding gays in the clergy.  

Those who fall into the latter category may be admitted into the clergy, but “such tendencies must be clearly overcome at least three years before ordination to the diaconate.”

Mimi Hanaoka