LGBT News Pope Speaks of 'Gay Lobby' in Vatican

This is an older story, but it is still worth commenting on. The signature of Jorge's papacy has simply been that his church doesn't officially talk about the evils of homosexuality much. This is being praised, unfortunately, as a possibility of a changing institution. It's not. Despite His PR stunt of calling a woman who had been raped, we're not left with much to be impressed by.

 

As a Catholic with same sex attraction, who has looked deeply into homosexuality amongst the Church and the Vatican in particular, I think I have the ability to make a few brief comments on this.

The Vatican does not accept people with "deep seated homosexual desires" into the priesthood, which basically means that if you are out and proud, you will be rejected in seminary. If you wish to come out after being ordained, a variety of options could be taken. I personally know a priest (member of a religious order) who came out, was removed from active duty, lived a few years as an open, active gay man, then became a practicing priest again. But this was in quite a liberal order, in one of the most liberally Catholic parts of the world.

An issue arises when priests actively pursue any form of sexual activity whilst in the priesthood. This is just plain wrong, not because of the gender of their sexual partner, but because the priest has sworn vows of celibacy. They are, in effect, married to the God, and any sexual activity is tantamount to cuckolding Christ.

As someone actively discerning the priesthood myself, I see the appeal for gay men, not just in the sense of being a a respected position without marriage, but also spiritually. There are some deeply homoerotic undertones to the nature of priesthood. Look at some of the great works of mystical poetry (St John of the Cross' Dark Night of the Soul is a great example), or the Song of Songs. And now it sounds like I have a crush on Jesus... Sorry Lord, you're not my type!

Around half of all priests are believed to have Same Sex Attraction, but it is only a small core of offenders that break their vows and form cliques in the priesthood. Most of this happens behind closed doors, but a few examples have come to light in the past few years. Cardinal O'Brien in Scotland is a great example. He was very strongly anti gay. Huh. Funny that, he has a long term romantic partnership with a priest and was very "close" with some of his seminarians, on some occasions committing gross sexual abuse. Another example is the Archdiocese of Miami, which was a cluster$&@/ of colossal proportions. The Bishop, his auxiliaries, and the clergy were all involved in a tight net of corruption and lust.

So it is possible to see Papa Francisco's apprehensions at the gay lobby in the Vatican. This is the man who said "who am I to judge" in regards to gay priests, but the corruption, nepotism, and degeneracy shown by the few active homosexuals in ministry should scare all Catholics.

I hope this post isn't interpreted negatively, and that it gives a bit of insight into the words of the Holy Father. The Church views my attraction to men as intrinsically disordered, but all it does it does out of love, and my sexuality is no barrier to me, personally, in my faith.

The only danger is sinful men breaking their vows of celibacy, whether that be with women, men, or children.

 

As a non-Catholic who knows fairly little about the workings of the Catholic church, I found your post to be very informative. Thank you for posting.