Vatican has secret rules for priests who father kids

The Vatican has revealed that it has secret rules for priests who father children despite their celibacy vows, The New York Times said in a report.

The Vatican has also confirmed that its department overseeing the world's priests has general guidelines for what to do when clerics break celibacy vows and have children.

"I can confirm that these guidelines exist," Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti told The New York Times. "It is an internal document."

The confirmation comes after Vincent Doyle, a psychotherapist in Ireland, told the daily that he was 28 when he learned from his mother that the Roman Catholic priest he had always known as his godfather was in truth his biological father.

The discovery led him to create a global support group, Coping International, to help other children of priests like him. When he pressed bishops to acknowledge these children, some church leaders told him that he was the product of the rarest of transgressions.

According to the Archbishop, these children are termed "children of the ordained", Doyle told The New York Times.

Doyle said that when he had asked for a copy, the Archbishop refused, saying it was secret.