Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination is a document which was issued on November 14, 2006 by the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church. It details guidelines on religious ministry to homosexual people.
The document emphasizes that same-sex sexual activity is morally wrong or "sinful", stating that "under no circumstances can they (homosexual acts) be approved".
The document further states:
- "While the Church teaches that homosexual acts are immoral, she does distinguish between engaging in homosexual acts and having a homosexual inclination. While the former is always objectively sinful, the latter is not."
- "Simply possessing such inclinations does not constitute a sin, at least to the extent that they are beyond one’s control. Acting on such inclinations, however, is always wrong."
- "It is crucially important to understand that saying a person has a particular inclination that is disordered is not to say that the person as a whole is disordered. Nor does it mean that one has been rejected by God or the Church."
- "All people are created in the image and likeness of God and thus possess an innate human dignity that must be acknowledged and respected."
- "The fact that homosexual acts are immoral may never be used to justify violence or unjust discrimination."
- "It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church’s pastors wherever it occurs."
Famous quotes containing the words ministry, persons and/or inclination:
“The State has but one face for me: that of the police. To my eyes, all of the State’s ministries have this single face, and I cannot imagine the ministry of culture other than as the police of culture, with its prefect and commissioners.”
—Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985)
“The rulers of the state are the only persons who ought to have the privilege of lying, either at home or abroad; they may be allowed to lie for the good of the state.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)
“It is impossible that had Buonaparte descended from a race of vegetable feeders that he could have had either the inclination or the power to ascend the throne of the Bourbons.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)