I am gay and proud of it, says Catholic priest

Krzysztof Charamsa, a monsignor and assistant secretary of the International Theological Commission of the Vatican, has confessed to practising homosexuality.

Charamsa, a Polish, who has been living in Rome for 17 years, teaches theology in two top Catholic institutions in Italy.

He said he was ready to give up his fate in exchange of his love life, faulting the perception that the Catholic church has about homosexuality.

“I want the church and my community to know who I am: a gay priest who is happy, and proud of his identity,” the controversial priest said in an interview with an Italian publication.

“I’m prepared to pay the consequences, but it’s time the church opened its eyes, and realises that offering gay believers total abstinence from a life of love is inhuman.

“It seems to me that in the church we are ignorant about homosexuality because we don’t really know any homosexuals. We have them all around us, of course, but we never look them in the eye, because they seldom say who they are.

“I know that the church will see me as someone who has failed to keep a promise, who has lost his way, and what’s worse, not with a woman, but a man! I also know that I will have to give up the ministry, even though it is my whole life. But I’m not doing this so that I can live with my partner. The reasons are much wider-ranging and based on a reflection on church doctrine.

“I hope that my personal experience will help stir the church’s consciousness in some way.”

Charamsa said he would soon reveal his identity to the pope and authorities of the Catholic schools where he lectures.

He also advocated equal rights for gays, saying the Bible does not see anything wrong in open expression of love between people of the same sex.

“The Bible says nothing on the subject of homosexuality. It instead speaks of acts that I would call ‘homogenital,’” he said.

“Even heterosexual people may perform such acts, as happens in many prisons, but in that case they are acting against their nature and therefore committing a sin. When a gay person engages in those same acts, they are instead expressing their nature.

“The biblical sodomite has nothing to do with two gays that love each other in modern-day Italy and want to marry. I am unable to find a single passage, even in St Paul, that may be seen as referring to homosexual persons asking to be respected as such, since at the time the concept was unknown.

“I will personally reveal my identity to the Holy Father in a letter. And I will tell the universities in Rome where I teach who I am; to my great sorrow I will probably no longer be allowed to work in Catholic education.

“Everyone – gays, lesbians and transsexuals included – foster in their hearts a desire for love and family. Everyone has the right to love, and that love must be protected by society and law. But above all it must be nourished by the church.

“Christianity is the religion of love, and love is central to the figure of Jesus we bring to the world. A lesbian or gay couple should be able to openly say to their church: ‘We love each other according to our nature, and offer this gift of our love to others, because it is a public matter, not just a private one; we are not merely engaged in some extreme pursuit of pleasure.”

When asked why he chose to open up, he said: “There comes a day when something inside you snaps, and you can’t go on. If I had been alone I would have lived the nightmare of a denied homosexuality, but God never leaves us alone.

“And I think He has helped me take this important existential step. It’s important because of its consequences, but it’s also the premise for living honestly, which should be natural for every homosexual.

“The Church is already behind in tackling the issue, and we can’t wait another 50 years, which is why I’ve decided to tell the Church who I am. I’m doing it for myself, for my community, and for the Church. It is also my duty towards the community of sexual minorities.”

Never before has a priest with such a high-profile role in the Vatican made such startling revelation.