Well... no biggie, right? We all know there are 1000s of gay priests. Msgr Charamsa himself told a Polish newsmagazine "The clergy is largely homosexual [Walt's emphasis] and, unfortunately, it is also homophobic to the point of paranoia but paralyzed by the lack of acceptance for its own sexual orientation." The point of outing himself, he said, is to challenge Church's "paranoia" towards sexual minorities.
If Msgr Charamsa were just an ordinary priest, in a parish in someplace like Bilaystok or Bydgoszcz, it wouldn't matter very much. But he's not. He's a theologian who, for the past 17 years, has been living in Rome, where he worked as an official in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith!
The CDF, formerly known as the Holy Office and presided over not long ago by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, as he then was, is the department of the Church charged with interpreting and protecting the Roman Catholic Faith. It is the office which has stated time and again that the homosexual lifestyle is gravely disordered, but that being queer is not a sin. However, it teaches -- or used to teach -- homosexual acts are mortal sins.
Msgr Charamsa may have missed that when he learned his catechism for he confessed to Corriere della Sera that he is not only gay, but living in a loving relationship with a man. [The link includes a video, not recommended for readers who are easily nauseated. Ed.]
Msgr Charamsa's scandalous confession should give the lie to those (Hello, Jeff Mirus!) who scoff at claims by Walt and others that there is a Gay Mafia operating openly within the Vatican, indeed within the very part of the Church bureaucracy charged with protecting the Faith of our fathers.
Sadly, Msgr Charamsa is only a soldier. There are others, in much higher positions. Some of them will be taking part in, or even leading (!!!), the Synod on the Family which opens tomorrow. The meeting of nearly 300 bishops and Cardinals is set to last three weeks, during which these learned and pious men will review Vatican's "approach" to gay relationships and same-sex marriage. What do you suppose they will decide? Write your guess on the back of a postage stamp and send it to Walt at the usual address.
Footnote: Oh, nearly forgot... Vatican officials said today that Msgr Charamsa's personal situation "merited respect" (!!!), but added that his statements were "very serious and irresponsible" and might possibly "subject the Synod assembly to undue media pressure." So...he has been relieved of his duties at the CDF, and will no longer allowed to work at the pontifical universities. Has he been defrocked? Errr, no. He's still a priest.
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