Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 13:01:54 +0100 (MET) From: Volker Kurze Dispute about homosexuality among catholic theologians in Germany In the last two weeks there has come up a media-covered dispute among roman catholic theologians: A reformist spokesman of the Catholic Church in Augsburg, Bavaria, set off the dispute by stating that the church must reconsider its attitude towards gay men because according to an American survey, some 20 percent of the clergy are gay themselves. Two very outspoken theologians: a retired ultraconservative university professor for catholic theology and the bishop of Fulda, Hessen, protested against the allegations that 20 percent of the clergy are gay. They also likened gays to criminals and prostitutes, calling them sick pedophiles. Public prosecutors are now investigating against the professor and the bishop on charges of criminal incitement of hatred. As a response to the violent rhetoric of their collegues, other bishops have commented: One said, gays are a welcome group in the catholic church, others said, it was not a sin nor an illness to be gay, but gays must not have a sexual life and should live in sexual abstinence. Besides bishop Dyba of Fulda, bishop Meissner of Cologne and the cardinal Ratzinger of Munich are the most outspoken anti-gay protagonists. Ratzinger is also the head of the catholic inquisition authority in Rome. Volker.