Sacked Priest Accuses Vatican Of Making Life ‘Hell’ For Gays

A high-ranking Polish Catholic priest who was sacked after he came out
as gay has accused the Vatican of making the lives of homosexuals "a
hell", in a letter sent to the pope seen Wednesday by AFP.

Krzysztof Charamsa thanked Pope Francis for his positive words and
gestures but criticised what he called the Vatican's hypocrisy in
banning gay priests even though he said the clergy was "full" of
homosexuals.

"Have a minimum of mercy. At least leave us alone, allow civil
societies to make our lives more human, while you, with your church,
have managed to make the lives of us homosexuals a hell," he wrote in
the letter dated October 3.

Charamsa sparked outrage at the Vatican that day by publicly declaring
his homosexuality — and presenting his Spanish boyfriend Eduardo
Planas — on the eve of a bishops' synod which touched on the divisive
issue of the Church's relationship to gay believers.

A Polish bishop last week defrocked the 43-year-old priest, who now
lives in Barcelona with his partner.
Charamsa had held a senior position working for the Vatican office for
protecting Catholic dogma, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith.

He wrote that after a "long and tormented period of discernment and
prayer", he had taken the decision to "publicly reject the violence of
the Church towards homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and
intersexual people".

"Today I have put myself on the side of the fantastic homosexual
people, who have during centuries been humiliated by a fanatical
church," he added.

"All gay cardinals, bishops and priests should have the courage to
leave this insensible, unjust and violent church."

While Charamsa can no longer perform priestly duties, he has not been
excommunicated, a move that would entirely banish him from the
Catholic church.

The pontiff met a gay former student of his during his recent visit to
the United States and has previously said that gay people should not
be marginalised in society.

But a report adopted by Catholic bishops at the end of their
three-week synod on Saturday includes only one brief article on the
Church's approach to gay believers, framing the question in terms of
how priests can help support families who have "persons with
homosexual tendencies" in their midst.

The report strongly reiterates the Church's opposition to gay
marriage, saying: "There are absolutely no grounds for considering
homosexual unions to be similar or even remotely analogous to God's
plan for marriage and the family."