The Lepanto Institute’s Michael Hichborn on Monday called for the "complete and thorough removal of all homosexual clergymen from the church," in the wake of the allegations against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the Associated Press reports.
"It is going to be difficult and will likely result in a very serious priest shortage," Hichborn said. "But it’s definitely worth the effort."
"The idea of a purge of gay priests is both ridiculous and dangerous," said Jesuit priest Rev. Martin, a moderate who wrote a book about building a bridge between the Catholic Church and the LGBT community.
"Any purge would empty parishes and religious orders of the thousands of priests (and bishops) who lead healthy lives of service and faithful lives of celibacy," he added.
The Vatican established in 2005 that seminary applicants who "practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture,'" cannot be accepted.
"Now it seems clear in light of these recent terrible scandals that indeed there is a homosexual culture, not only among the clergy but even within the hierarchy, which needs to be purified at the root," Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of the leading conservatives in the U.S. Catholic leadership, told the AP.
"The institutional leaders want to promote a message that gay men should not exist in the priesthood," said Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry, a group that promotes equality for LGBT Catholics. "So they don’t offer healthy, holy examples of gay priests who are living their celibacy in effective ways."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.