Gay Clergy Issue Letter on Vatican Policy
Wed Dec 14,10:55 PM ET

VATICAN CITY - A group of gay Italian clergy said Wednesday that their homosexuality has not stopped them from being good priests,a direct response to a recent Vatican policy statement banning priestly candidates with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies.

The message, an open letter in which the priests said they felt like the church's "unloved and unwanted children," was posted on the Web site of the Italian Catholic news agency Adista. The agency last month leaked the Vatican instruction on gay priests a week before its scheduled release by the Holy See.

Adista said 39 priests, 26 diocesans and 13 more members of various religious orders had signed the letter. However, the text reproduced on the Web site did not include the signatures or list their names. Story