The Vatican has approved new guidelines that allow gay men to become priests as long as they abstain from sex.

The new, more permissive, guidelines were drawn up by the Catholic Church in Italy in November and were confirmed this week by the Vatican’s clergy office.

They appear to be a relaxation of the Vatican’s prior rules, which decreed that seminaries – colleges for trainee priests – should not admit men who display “deep-seated homosexual tendencies”.

The 68-page guidelines are at odds with indiscreet remarks made by the Pope in May, when he said there was “already too much faggotry” among trainee priests in Catholic seminaries.

He used an Italian word, “frociaggine”, which is considered to be offensive, in remarks that confounded those who regarded him as being sympathetic to homosexuals in the Catholic Church.

He made the remarks in a behind-closed-doors address to bishops, but they were leaked to the Italian press.

Pope Francis said he was opposed to gay seminarians leading a “double life”.

The Vatican later put out an apology, saying he had not intended to use homophobic language and apologised to anyone who was offended.

‘Orientation towards celibacy’

The new guidelines, which were published on the website of the Italian bishops’ conference, said that gay men would from now on be admitted to seminaries but only if they were celibate.

Trainee priests must demonstrate “an orientation towards celibate life”, the document said.

It added that the Catholic Church “while deeply respecting the people in question, cannot admit to the seminary and to Holy Orders those who practise homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture”.

Instead, trainee priests should embrace chastity and celibacy.

Pope Francis, who turned 88 last month, has in general won plaudits for making overtures towards the LGBTQ community since becoming Pope in 2013, even though Catholic Church teaching holds that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered”.

Just weeks after succeeding Pope Benedict XVI, he said: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?”

In 2023, he allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, sparking a backlash among some conservative Catholics.

James Martin, a US Jesuit priest and well-known advocate for LGBTQ Catholics, welcomed the new, more relaxed guidelines.

“My reading of this is that if a gay man is able to lead a healthy chaste and celibate life, he may be considered for admission to the seminary. So, as I see it, this is something of a step forward,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.