Gay theologist: Half of men working in Vatican are gay

The priest also said that his coming out is for all gay priests.

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 how to reach out to gays.

According to the Telegraph, he said: “It’s a place where they help you to rediscover the straight and narrow. What needs to be cured is not homosexuality but homophobia”.

A former Catholic priest has claimed that the Vatican is funding therapy to “cure” the homosexuality of gay clergymen.

A gray stone wall on the edge of the northern Italian hamlet of Trento hides a former convent where gay priests say they were once sent to be “cured” of their homosexual tendencies.

It has been reported that priests who show “inappropriate sexual tendencies” are removed for “a period of training, personal reflection and enlightenment”, according to The Independent. “Most of all, the priests who come here are suffering from depression”.

Krzysztof Charamsa in coming out as gay, instead of adhering to the shameful practice of “Don’t ask, don’t tell” so prevalent in the Vatican and in so many other religious institutions.

Of course the environment is more civilized now, but Bonfante says that priests who came out as gay in Italy before Pope Francis was elected in 2013 were sent to the Venturini institute to be treated with a type of multi-faceted “retraining” that mixes psychoanalysis with meditative prayer. ‘I’m out of the closet and I’m very happy about that. “I want to be an advocate for all sexual minorities and their families who have suffered in silence”.

The highly symbolic gesture, indicative of Francis’s personally tolerant attitude towards gays, came a day before he met prominent gay marriage opponent Kim Davis – another private encounter in the USA that the Vatican said did not indicate support for her stance. “They know what we can offer”, he added.

His actions would subject the conference to “undue media pressure”, the Vatican said.

The Vatican declined to confirm or deny whether the convent dealt with priests who were struggling with their sexuality.