Sacked homosexual priest plans to move to Barcelona

  VATICAN CITY — A Vatican priest who rocked the Catholic Church's Synod of bishops by disclosing he is gay was quoted as saying Monday he is leaving Rome and moving to Barcelona after being sacked by the Holy See for publicly coming out about his homosexuality.

  The Polish priest and theologian, Krzysztof Charamsa, 43, has since said “I will not stir up another uproar. I will leave the Roman convent where I live, with all I can take in these two suitcases, and then I will go to Barcelona. I have already bought a ticket.”

  His sexuality was disclosed in an interview on the front page of the Corriere della Sera on Saturday said “I want the church and my community to know who I am: a homosexual priest, happy and proud of my own identity. I have a partner. I am ready to pay the consequences for this, but it is time that the Church opens its eyes to its gay believers and understands that the solution offered to them (total abstinence from the live of love) is inhumane. I want my story to shake the conscience of my Church. I will personally reveal this all to the Holy Father in a letter.”

  At the opening of the Synod on Sunday, Pope Francis said “A church with its doors closed betrays itself and its mission, and instead of being a bridge becomes a barrier. The man who makes a mistake must always be understood and loved and the Church must seek him, receive him and accompany him.” He also said that the Synod “is not a parliament, where to reach a consensus becomes a common agreement, a negotiation, a settlement or compromise.”

  Charamsa is an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and assistant secretary of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission, as well as a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum. 

  The Vatican’s response was immediate on Saturday. “Charamsa can no longer continue to perform his prior commitments at the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith and the Pontifical Universities. The other aspects of his situation are the responsibility of his diocesan Ordinary” said Father Federico Lombardi. “His decision to announce something so sensational on the eve of the Synod is very serious and irresponsible, as it seeks to impose unwarranted media pressure on the synodal assembly.”

  However, Charamsa defended his decision to announce it on the eve of the Synod, which started on Sunday 4 and will run until Sunday 25 October, because of the Synod’s theme of “the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world." “I would say to the Synod that homosexual love is a love that needs a family. Every person, even those who are gay, lesbian and transgender, needs love” said Charamsa. 

  Charamsa, not being intimidated by the Vatican’s response continued “I dedicate my coming out to the large number of homosexual priests who do not have the strength to come out of the closet.”

  Meanwhile, an “Appeal to the Synodal Bishops” has been signed by more than 50 international Catholic organisations to address major issues related to the Catholic family life at this year’s Synod. Amongst these issues, are the social and economic problems of the family and that homosexual individuals and same-sex couples be considered as full members of the Church with every right and every duty. This is in addition to the recent pressure on the church to allow homosexual marriage.