Vatican Begins Witch Hunt for U.S. Gays

(New York City) The Vatican has begun its investigation of America's 229 seminaries to root out gays.

Thethreat that the Catholic Church was embarking on a pogrom against gayclergy first arose last month when new regulations submitted to PopeBenedict for his approval suggested that gays not be considered for thepriesthood.

The Church is attempting to lay blame on gays forthe child abuse scandal that has rocked Roman Catholicism. Vaticaninvestigators arrived in the US this week to gauge the scale of thescandal and to determine how many gay priests are in the priesthood.

Adocument obtained by the New York Times shows the investigators willseek to have priests turn in suspected gays. The Times said it receivedthe document from a priest "who was granted anonymity because he fearedretribution".

It shows that the inquisitors will conductconfidential interviews with every faculty member and seminarian, aswell as everyone who graduated in the last three years.

Amongthe questions all seminarians and teachers will be asked are: ?Is thereevidence of homosexuality in the seminary?" and "Are there signs ofparticular friendships.? Both questions must be answered the documentsays.

Meanwhile, Pope Benedict continues to study the proposalfor barring gays from entering the seminaries. But, archbishop EdwinO'Brien, the American cleric leading the investigation in an interviewlast week with a Catholic publication said that "anyone who has engagedin homosexual activity, or has strong homosexual inclinations,? shouldnot be admitted to a seminary.

The Human Rights Campaign labeled the investigation a witch hunt.

?Thereal debate around this witch hunt isn?t between us and the Vatican,it?s between the Vatican and the truth,? said HRC President JoeSolmonese. ?When the church makes gay men a scapegoat for pedophiles,it ignores one problem and creates another. It does nothing to keepchildren safe or punish criminals.?