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Agence France-Presse

The Vatican on Saturday 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 after Krzysztof Charamsa, a mid-level 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 high-ranking Polish priest revealed he was gay earlier in the day, saying he wanted to challenge the church’s “paranoia” on the eve of a key synod on the family.
The comments drew a furious reaction from the Vatican, which condemned his actions as “very serious and irresponsible” and which meant he would be stripped of his responsibilities in the Church’s hierarchy.

In two separate interviews to Italy’s Corriere Sera and to the Polish version of Newsweek, Father Krysztof Olaf Charamsa, who works for a Vatican office for protecting Catholic dogma said he was a practising homosexual with a partner.
The explosive revelations by the 43-year-old priest who works for the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith were published a day before a bishop’s synod at which the church’s approach to homosexuality, among other topics, will come under review.
Read more: Behind the hug: Pope Francis and gay man friends from their teacher-student days in Argentina
“I know that I will have to give up my ministry which is my whole life,” he told the Italian daily.
“I know that the church will see me as someone who did not know how to fulfil his duty (to remain chaste), who is lost and who is not even with a woman but with a man!”
Charamsa said his decision to come out was motivated by concern for the church’s attitude to homosexuals, which he described as “backwards”.

“It is time that the church opened its eyes to gay believers and understood that the solution is it proposing – total abstinence and a life without love – is not humane,” he said.
“I am not doing it in order to be able live with my partner, I am doing it for me, for my community and for the church. It is a much deeper decision borne out of my reflection on what is advocated by the church,” he said.
Read more: Vatican insists Pope Francis’ meeting with anti-gay marriage clerk Kim Davis was ‘not a form of support’
The church’s attitude to homosexuality was “backwards when compared to the level of awareness that humankind has reached,” he told the paper.
“The clergy is largely homosexual and unfortunately, it is also homophobic to the point of paranoia but paralysed by the lack of acceptance for its own sexual orientation,” he told the Polish version of Newsweek.
“Wake up, church, stop persecuting the innocents,” he said, insisting his aim was to help the Catholic church.
“My coming out is a plea to the Synod that the church stop its paranoid actions with regards to sexual minorities,” he said.
Charamsa said he had always had homosexual feelings but had initially tried to reject it and accept what the church had “imposed” on him – that “homosexuality doesn’t exist”.
Then he forced himself to study and pray and reflect, but finally made peace with himself on meeting his partner who helped him “transform his fears into the power of love.”
After that, he felt he had become “a better priest, who could give better sermons and better help others,” he told the Italian paper.
 A Vatican spokesman said Charamsa would not be able to continue in his senior position in the Vatican and that his future as a priest would be decided by his local bishop.
A Vatican’s statement read: “With regard to the declarations and interview given by Msgr. Krzystof Charamsa it should be observed that, notwithstanding the respect due to the events and personal situations, and reflections on the issue, 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.
“Msgr. Charamsa will certainly be unable to continue to carry out his previous work in (Vatican body) the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical universities, while the other aspects of his situation shall remain the competence of his diocesan Ordinary.”
Charamsa's comments were published as it emerged that the pope had met with a gay couple duirng his trip to the US. 
Yayo Grassi has been identified by The New York Times and CNN as an openly gay Argentine caterer who lives in Washington. In a video posted online, Grassi is shown entering the Vatican’s embassy, embracing his former teacher and introducing Francis to his longtime partner, whom Francis recognized from a previous meeting, as well as an elderly Argentine woman and a few friends from Asia.
News of the encounter came shortly after it emerged that Pope Francis met last week with an American woman at the center of a row over gay marriage.


Vatican fires gay priest who challenged the ‘paranoia’ of the ‘backwards’ Catholic church

Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa (left), second secretary of the Vatican's International Theological Commission, and his partner Eduard at the end of a press conference in Rome on Saturday. Photo: EPA

Charamsa, who worked for a Vatican office protecting Catholic dogma admitted he was a practising homosexual. Photo: SCMP Pictures 

The pope meets an old friend, Yayo Grassi, who is as an openly gay Argentine caterer who lives in Washington. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Vatican insists Pope Francis’ meeting with anti-gay marriage clerk Kim Davis was ‘not a form of support’

Pope Francis in St Peter's Square. Photo: EPA

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis. Photo: AP

Behind the hug: Pope Francis and gay man friends from their teacher-student days in Argentina

Pope Francis embraces his friend Yayo Grassi, who introduced the head of the Catholic church to his partner. 

The pope also met Kim Davis, the controversial Kentucky court clerk jailed for refusing to approve same-sex marriage licenses. Photo: AP

‘I am full of hope’: Pope Francis visits Ground Zero and also weighs in on Iran deal and gay marriage

Pope Francis speaks during the homily  as he celebrates Mass at Madison Square Garden. Photo: EPA