VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican is drafting new guidelines for accepting candidates for the priesthood that will address the question of whether homosexuals should be barred.
The guidelines will not be published until sometime next year, according to the Vatican's press office.
The issue of gay clergy has received renewed attention after the U.S. clerical abuse scandal. Most of the victims of alleged molestation by priests have been adolescent boys. Several church leaders have argued that gay clergy are to blame for the scandal, according to The Associated Press.
A Rome newspaper published an article Nov. 5 claiming that an initial draft of the guidelines had concluded Catholic seminaries should bar men with "homosexual tendencies," according to the AP.
