Vatican's Secret Rules for Catholic Priests Who Have Children

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

Vatican’s Secret Rules for Catholic Priests Who Have Children

By Jason Horowitz and Elisabetta Povoledo
Feb. 18, 2019

ROME — Vincent Doyle, a psychotherapist in Ireland, was 28 when he learned from his mother that the Roman Catholic priest he had always known as his godfather was in truth his biological father.

The discovery led him to create a global support group to help other children of priests, like him, suffering from the internalized shame that comes with being born from church scandal. When he pressed bishops to acknowledge these children, some church leaders told him that he was the product of the rarest of transgressions.

But one archbishop finally showed him what he was looking for: a document of Vatican guidelines for how to deal with priests who father children, proof that he was hardly alone.

“Oh my God. This is the answer,” Mr. Doyle recalled having said as he held the document. He asked if he could have a copy, but the archbishop said no — it was secret.

Now, the Vatican has confirmed, apparently for the first time, that its department overseeing the world’s priests has general guidelines for what to do when clerics break celibacy vows and father children.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/world/europe/priests-children-vatican-rules-celibacy.html