Vatican fires gay priest ahead of Synod—UPDATED

Fron AP: 

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.

Monsignor Kryzstof Charamsa was a mid-level official in the Vatican’s doctrine office. In newspaper interviews published in Italy and Poland on Saturday, Charamsa said he was happy and proud to be a gay priest, and 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.

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UPDATE: Some additional details, from Reuters...

Mr Charasma held a news conference with his partner and gay activists at a Rome restaurant. They had planned a demonstration in front of the Vatican, but changed the venue several hours before it was due to have started.

“I would like the Church and my community to know who I am: a homosexual priest, happy and proud of my own identity,” Mr Charamsa said.

“The time has come for the Church to open its eyes to gay believers and recognise its suggested solution of complete, lifelong abstinence is inhumane.”

The Vatican said the dismissal had nothing to do with Mr Charasma’s reflections on his personal life, which it said “merit respect”.

But it said giving the interview and the planned demonstration was “grave and irresponsible” given their timing on the eve of a synod of bishops who will discuss family issues, including the Church’s position on gays.