ROME (LifeSiteNews) — Prolific pro-LGBT Father James Martin attested that he has known “hundreds” of homosexual priests as the fallout continues from Pope Francis’ reported statement that there is too much “f–ggotry” in seminaries.

The heterodox Jesuit wrote that in his “25 years as a priest and almost 40 as a Jesuit,” he has “known hundreds” of “celibate” homosexual clerics.

Such priests have “been my superiors, my teachers, my confessors, my mentors, my spiritual directors and my friends,” he added.

Martin has criticized Church teaching that homosexuality is “disordered,” suggested that Catholic doctrine on homosexuality is not “authoritative,” cast doubt on the biblical condemnation of sodomy, and promoted LGBT activists like Sister Jeannine Gramick.

READ: Father James Martin blesses homosexual ‘couple’ at Jesuit residence in New York City

Martin’s latest comments come by way of a response to the reports that Pope Francis used the term “f–ggotry” in reference to seminarians.

The widely read Italian daily gossip paper Dagospia reported late Monday that Francis said that “in the Church, there is too much of an atmosphere of f–ggotry.” Dagospia claimed that he also said that bishops must, therefore, “get all the queers [checche] out of the seminaries, even those only semi-oriented.”

Francis’ comments were made during the closed-door meeting held recently with the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI).

Amid an instant outrage among secular outlets and certain self-described Catholic sites, the Holy See Press Office eventually issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon. “Pope Francis is aware of the articles that came out recently about a conversation, behind closed doors, with the bishops of CEI (Italian Episcopal Conference),” press office director Matteo Bruni wrote.

READ: Vatican issues statement apologizing for Pope Francis using ‘homophobic’ term

“As he said on several occasions, ‘In the Church there is room for everyone, for everyone! No one is useless, no one is superfluous, there is room for everyone. Just as we are, everyone.’”

“The Pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he extends his apologies to those who felt offended by the use of a term, reported by others,” closed Bruni, notably using the LGBT activist term “homophobic” that is commonly used to smear critics of homosexuality.

Martin, notorious throughout much of the Catholic Church for his promotion of anti-Catholic LGBT ideology with the support of Pope Francis, has previously urged priests to “come out.”

“I would estimate about 30 (percent) to 40 percent of priests are celibate, gay priests, a ballpark figure, and if they did come out, their parishioners would see how normal it is to be LGBT,” Martin told the LGBT newspaper Bay Area Reporter some years ago. 

The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual activity is mortally sinful and that homosexual tendencies are objectively disordered. The Church also rejects gender ideology and affirms the reality of the two sexes.

READ: Disgraced homosexual priest attends Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence drag ‘ordination’ in Germany

For priests to “come out,” or reveal themselves as homosexual “would also be an encouragement for lay LGBT Catholics (sic) themselves,” Martin said.

Martin has repeated this call on other occasions, notably in light of the cocaine-fueled homosexual orgy in the Vatican breaking in 2017.

Polish priest and professor Father Dariusz Oko, author of With the Pope Against Homoheresy, has estimated that “about 30%-40% of priests and 40%-50% of bishops in the USA have homosexual inclinations” and told LifeSiteNews that half or more of them “at least periodically may commit serious abuses.”

READ: Sex-abuse crisis in US Catholic Church is about homosexuality, not pedophilia: EWTN panel

In contrast to Martin’s encouragement for priests to reveal themselves as homosexual, the Catholic Church does not simply discourage but firmly prohibits men from entering the seminary if they present with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies.”

The Vatican’s 2005 document on the admission of people with “homosexual tendencies” to seminaries stated that “the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, presented deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’”

It added that those who had only “a transitory problem” of suffering “homosexual tendencies” could be admitted but that such tendencies must be “clearly overcome at least three years before ordination to the diaconate.”

READ: California priest who called for removal of Archbishop Cordileone declares he’s homosexual

“It would be gravely dishonest for a candidate to hide his own homosexuality in order to proceed, despite everything, towards ordination,” the 2005 text stipulated. “Such a deceitful attitude does not correspond to the spirit of truth, loyalty and openness that must characterize the personality of him who believes he is called to serve Christ and his Church in the ministerial priesthood.”

However, accumulative media reports and real-world evidence suggested that this document was largely ignored in practice. 

The Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy subsequently issued another document in December 2016, “The Gift of the Priestly Vocation,” that reaffirmed and heavily quoted from the teachings of the 2005 text, prohibiting those with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” from entering the seminary.

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