Vatican dismisses gay priest before synod
Monsignor says timing of disclosure wasn’t related to meeting on social issues
VATICAN CITY— The Vatican has fired a monsignor who came out as gay on the eve of a big meeting of the world’s bishops to discuss church outreach to gays, divorcees and more traditional Catholic families.
The Vatican took action on Saturday after Krzysztof Charamsa, a midlevel official in its doctrine office, came out in newspaper interviews in Italy and Poland saying he was happy and proud to be a gay priest, and that he was in love with a man whom he identified as his boyfriend.
“The decision to make such a pointed statement on the eve of the opening of the synod appears very serious and irresponsible, since it aims to subject the synod assembly to undue media pressure,” the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said in a statement.
As a result, Charamsa could no longer work at the Vatican or its pontifical universities, Lombardi said.
Despite his dismissal, Charamsa remains a priest, although Lombardi hinted that his superiors could take further action.
Charamsa, an assistant secretary of the International Theological Commission who teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University, told the prominent Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera that he was gay.
“I would like the Church and my community to know who I am: a homosexual priest, happy and proud of my own identity,” Charamsa said.
Catholic Church teachings hold homosexual acts as sinful and “contrary to the natural law,” and Charamsa is the first theologian with an active Vatican role to identify as homosexual, Corriere della Sera reported.
Charamsa, who is 43 years old, told reporters that the timing of his disclosure was not related to the episcopal meeting on the family, but said he hoped it might add “a Christian voice” to the synod, which among other issues is expected to address how the Church can better minister to the homosexual faithful.
He initially planned a press conference in front of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith’s office, but moved it to central Rome after the Vatican action.
Charamsa, a native of Poland who has lived in Rome for 17 years, was joined by his companion, identified only as Eduard.
“I came out. This is a very personal, difficult and tough decision in the Catholic Church’s homophobic world,” Charamsa said, asking people to bear this in mind.
He said he has written a book in Italian and Polish to “lay bare” his experience “in front of all those who want to confront me.”
Charamsa told the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza that he was motivated to make his sexual orientation public by hate mail that he received after publicly criticizing a right-wing Polish priest who is strongly anti-gay.
“I have to say who I am. I am a gay priest. I am a happy and proud gay priest,” he told Gazeta Wyborcza.
The three-week synod begins Sunday in the Vatican to discuss questions of marriage and family. The meeting is expected to deal with sensitive social issues that include homosexuality, abortion, divorce and contraception.
“I would like the Church and my community to know who I am: a homosexual priest, happy and proud of my own identity.” KRZYSZTOF CHARAMSA MONSIGNOR