NYT: At the Vatican, Exceptions Make the Rule
John L. Allen Jr., Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, has an op-ed piece in the New York Times (registration required) about the forthcoming Vatican document on gays in seminaries.... when the Vatican makes statements like "no gays in the priesthood," it doesn't actually mean "no gays in the priesthood." It means, "As a general rule, this is not a good idea, but we all know there will be exceptions."Understanding this distinction requires an appreciation of Italian concepts of law, which hold sway throughout the thought world of the Vatican. The law, according to such thinking, expresses an ideal. It describes a perfect state of affairs from which many people will inevitably fall short. This view is far removed from the typical Anglo-Saxon approach, which expects the law to dictate what people actually do. ...
posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 9:59 AM
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