VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — A number of cardinals and other members of the Synod attended a pro-LGBT event hosted by Fr James Martin S.J. and his Outreach group in Rome today, during which a same-sex “married” man called for “love to be expressed.”
“Get to know the real people behind the ‘mask’ who are trying to live a Catholic life,” said Christopher Vella today. “Let’s allow love to be expressed,” he added.
Vella leads the Malta-based LGBT Catholic group Drachma, and spoke today in the hall of the General Curia House of the Jesuits in Rome, at an event held on the sidelines of the Synod on Synodality. He lives as a “bisexual Catholic married to another man.”
Organized by Fr. James Martin’s pro-LGBT group Outreach and the Jesuit-run America Magazine, the event saw cardinals and other members of the Synod gather together to hear the testimony of “LGBTQ Catholics.” It began with a welcome from Father Antoine Kerhuel, S.J., who serves as the secretary of the Jesuits.
Featuring a number of individuals who are “married” to members of the same-sex, the event was called “What is the experience of LGBTQ Catholics?”
Cardinal Stephen Chow, S.J. – Synod member and bishop of Hong Kong – led a prayer during the event, while the second-youngest Synod member Julia Oseka led the closing prayer.
“Jesus our Lord, teach us to journey with each other with respect and gratitude. We do not take for granted this privilege to listen, to learn and to walk together as synodal companions,” Chow prayed, adding:
Oh, Holy Spirit, send us your guiding light of truth, so that our ignorance and prejudices can melt away through this synodal encounter, and a new morn marked by mutual respect and empathic understanding can take shape in our church for our LGBTQ+ sisters and brothers, as well as for ourselves and our church as a whole
Joining Martin and Vella on the panel was Juan Carlos Cruz, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, whom Pope Francis is famously said to have told that “God made you gay.”
This story is developing…