The topic of conversation: How should the official come out?

Krzysztof Charamsa was still employed at one of the Holy See's most powerful offices, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

But after decades of hiding, the 43-year-old gay Polish priest wanted to come out with a flourish.

He was no longer afraid to confront a Church he saw as intrinsically "homophobic" and proposed a symbolic news conference outside the headquarters of the Congregation — the very institution charged with defending and disseminating Catholic teachings around the globe.

But Emilio Sturla, a public relations consultant who worked closely with gay Catholic groups and was helping Charamsa, strongly suggested he reconsider, both men recalled.

The public and the Church, Sturla insisted, would see such a move as too incendiary.

"But that's what he wanted," Sturla said. "To be provocative." And that's what he did.

Their conversation suggests how even before it happened, Charamsa's high-profile debut — including its timing right before a major Vatican meeting of the Church hierarchy — was already controversial among the small group of gay Catholics aware of his plans.

Charamsa's move brought the expected denunciations from the Church and religious conservatives, who pointed out that he had violated his vow of chastity and the Church's teachings on homosexuality.

More surprisingly, his actions have also sparked a split among gay Catholics.

The Church officially teaches that homosexual desires are not sinful unless acted upon and calls on gays and lesbians to live lives of chastity.

It teaches that gays are deserving of human dignity. But it also describes homosexual acts as a sin that is "intrinsically disordered" and a "grave depravity".

As Pope Francis opens the door to more inclusion of gay people, Charamsa's coming out — and the reactions to it — cuts to the heart of a debate raging among gay Catholics worldwide: Should they use gentle dialogue or open confrontation in pushing for change? Continue reading

Sources

• Washington Post
• Image: Famille Chretienne

Msgr Krzysztof Charamsa told Francis the Catholic Church is "full of homosexuals" despite being "frequently violently homophobic".

The Polish theologian called on "all gay cardinals, gay bishops and gay priests [to] have the courage to abandon this insensitive, unfair and brutal Church".

On the eve of the synod on the family, Msgr Charamsa came out publicly as gay and announced he has a partner.

He subsequently lost his position at the CDF and was later suspended from priestly ministry by his diocese in Poland.

In the letter released to the BBC, Msgr Charamsa thanked Pope Francis for some of his positive words and gestures towards gay people.

But the theologian wrote that he can no longer bear the "homophobic hate of the Church, the exclusion, the marginalisation and the stigmatisation of people like me", whose "human rights are denied" by the Church.

He said he had taken the decision to "publicly reject the violence of the Church towards homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and intersexual people".

The Vatican has not commented on the letter.

Mgr Charamsa, who now lives in Barcelona with his partner, told The Guardian that he still believed in the sanctity of marriage.

"I understand many people who say ‘we don't need the institution of marriage. Our love is free'. I am not in this part of society," he said.

"For me, [marriage] is part of the dynamic of love and I thank God that I live in a century where it's possible, thanks to the homosexual movement and thanks to many homosexual martyrs."

He added that LGBT Catholics also have a right to family life even if the Church does not want to bless it.

The final document of the synod last weekend ruled out any unjust discrimination against people with "homosexual tendencies".

But the document stated that there is "no basis for any comparison, however remote, between homosexual unions and God's design for marriage and the family".

Sources

• The Tablet
• The Guardian
• The Local.It
• Daily Mail
• BBC
• Image: The Local.It

Msgr Krzysztof Charamsa lost his job at the CDF after he made a public statement about his situation and he also criticised the Church for its approach to homosexuality.

His bishop in Pelpin diocese in Poland called on him to return to proper priestly behaviour.

But since there has been no sign of this, Msgr Charamsa has been suspended indefinitely.

The diocese said in a statement that the suspension can be reversed if Msgr Charamsa returns to the "true teaching of the Church and Christ's priesthood".

Continue reading

In a long interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper on Saturday, Msgr Krzysztof Charamsa, 43, announced he is gay and has a partner.

He later held a news conference with his partner, a Spanish man, and gay activists at a Rome restaurant.

Msgr Charamsa, a Polish theologian, said he is "ready to pay the consequences" of his coming out.

"But the moment has come for the Church to open its eyes to gay believers and to understand that the solution which it offers to gays, namely total abstinence from a love life, is simply inhuman," he said.

He added: "It seems to me that, in the Church, we don't know homosexuality because we don't know homosexuals, yet we have them all over the place."

"With my story I want to shake the conscience of the Church a bit."

Msgr Charamsa disputed that biblical passages forbad genuine same-sex love.

The Vatican responded by stating that Msgr Charamsa would be unable to carry out his previous work at the CDF.

He will also have to stand down from lecturing at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

"Other aspects of his situation shall remain the competence of his diocesan ordinary," said Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ.

Msgr Charamsa said he knew he would have to give up his ministry.

The Vatican said Msgr Charamsa's dismissal had nothing to do with his comments on his personal situation, which it said "merit respect".

But it said giving the interview and planning a later demonstration was "grave and irresponsible" given their timing on the eve of the synod on the family.

There is believed to be a book is in the offing which may reveal further details of Msgr Charamsa's 12 years of hidden life inside the Holy See.

In a blog on the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference website, Bishop Charles Drennan of Palmerston North wrote about CDF official's actions.

Sources

• The Independent
• BBC
• Irish Times
• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference blog
• Image: CBS News