Despite the canonical fact that homosexuals are excluded from priestly formation and religious life, even in the New Canon Code of 1983, but also according to a 2005 clarification with the long title, Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders., homosexuls are still admitted to the religious life against the lessons of history and the Canon Law itself.
The document contains the following passage:
In the light of such teaching, this Dicastery, in accord with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, believes it necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question[9], cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called "gay culture"[10].
It's not our intention to usurp the office of canon lawyers or bishops, but when this document was released in 2005, there was quite a bit of encouragement and hope that orthodoxy would be the rule of the day and that bishops would restrict the entrance into the seminary, those who lack the affective maturity to relate to men and women in the life of the Church.
Obviously, these rules haven't been implemented with the same force throughout the Church. Some superiors and bishops no doubt exhibit a great deal of clemency in this regard, but there has to be a point at which credulity is stretched beyond its breaking point.
