Vatican Official Declares He’s “Gay” and has Partner, Is Fired

By Published on October 4, 2015

The Vatican has fired a priest with several influential positions in the Church after he publicly announced that he was homosexual and had a “partner.” Msgr. Krzysztof Charamsa, who has worked at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 2003, the Catholic Church’s doctrinal agency, also taught at two of the Church’s universities in Rome and was an assistant secretary of the International Theological Commission. “I have to say who I am. I am a gay priest. I am a happy and proud gay priest,” he told a Polish newspaper.

“This decision of mine to come out was a very personal one taken in a Catholic Church that is homophobic and very difficult and harsh” toward homosexual people, he said at a press conference held in a restaurant, where he appeared with his partner Eduard. He had planned to hold the press conference in front of the CDF’s offices, but moved the location for reasons not reported. He had previously given interviews to the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera and the Polish edition of Newsweek, which appeared today.

In a short official statement, the Vatican’s spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., said, “the choice to make such a pointed statement on the vigil of the Synod’s opening seems very serious and irresponsible, since it seeks to impose on the Synodal assembly undue media pressure.” Msgr. Charamsa “will certainly be unable to continue to carry out his previous work.” Whether he remains a priest is the decision of his bishop.

At the news conference, Charamsa said he wanted to make “an enormous noise for the good of the Church” and apply “good Christian pressure” on the Synod, while denouncing the Church’s “paranoia” about homosexual people. The Church “can’t continue showing contempt and offense towards homosexuals,” he said. He also called for a study of the number of homosexual people who work in the Vatican. “I know that I will have to give up my ministry, which is my whole life,” he told Corriere della Sera.

Msgr. Charamsa’s dramatic announcement raised the question of the long-rumored “gay lobby” in the Vatican. Last year, speaking to a group of visiting bishops, Pope Francis said that among the Vatican officials, “there are holy people, truly, there are holy people. But there’s also a current of corruption — there’s that, too, it’s true. … The ‘gay lobby’ is spoken of, and it’s true, that’s there.” The media had also widely reported rumors of a homosexual movement within the Vatican to drive Pope Benedict from office.

In 1986, the CDF issued the Church’s authoritative statement on The Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, which noted, “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder. Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not.”

Update: The Toronto Catholic Witness website has reported that Msgr. Charamsa’s bishop in Poland has given him a canonical admonition, the first stage in the disciplinary process given in the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law. A statement for Bishop Ryszard Kasyna of the Diocese of Peplin says: “In connection with the communique issued by the Holy See Press Office concerning the declaration of Fr. Krzysztof Charamsa and his statements to the media contrary to the Scriptures and teachings of the Catholic Church, whereas according to the norms of the Code of Canon Law, Fr. Krzysztof Charamsa has been admonished by the Reverend Bishop of Pelplin to return to the way of Christ’s priesthood. At the same time the Bishop of Pelplin asks all priests and the faithful to pray for this intention.”

 

This story uses information taken from the CNA, Reuters, Raw Story, NPR and AP reports and a statement from the Vatican news office.

 

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