Gay prits: Breakg the silence - CBS News

Contents:

• CATHOLIC PRITS: IT'S 'EMPIRIL FACT' THAT MANY CLERGY ARE GAY
• ‘IT IS NOT A CLOSET. IT IS A CAGE.’ GAY CATHOLIC PRITS SPEAK OUT
• WHY DID SO MANY GAY MEN ENTER THE PRITHOOD THE 20TH CENTURY?
• GAY PRITS: BREAKG THE SILENCE

CATHOLIC PRITS: IT'S 'EMPIRIL FACT' THAT MANY CLERGY ARE GAY

A large majory of prits the Vatin are gay, although many are not sexually active, a new book claims. A total of about 80 percent of the most revered clerics the Roman Catholic Church are homosexual spe the church’s opposn to gay rights, acrdg to the extensively rearched book by French journalist Frédéric Martel. The gay prits adhere to an unspoken lled “the closet,” where is unrstood that, for stance, a rdal or bishop who nounc homosexualy is more likely to be gay, acrdg to the book “In the Closet of the Vatin.”.

‘IT IS NOT A CLOSET. IT IS A CAGE.’ GAY CATHOLIC PRITS SPEAK OUT

Another ntroversial claim the book is that Colombian Cardal Alfonso López Tjillo fend the church’s posns on homosexualy while hirg male prostut, acrdg to The Guardian. Gay and straight prits alike are cheerg Pope Francis's ments about homosexualy the prithood, sayg gay prits make up a signifint segment of the Catholic clergy and serve papal regnn. On a plane om Brazil Monday, Francis told reporters that, "if someone is gay and he search for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?

" It's a ment that stands stark ntrast to the policy of Francis's precsor, Pope Benedict XVI, who signed a document 2005 that said men wh strong gay tennci should not be prits. "It's an empiril fact that lots of men are gay who are prits.

"I would also observe that the numbers of gay men and women the church mistry is probably larger than the general populatn, precisely bee they are not seekg marriage. The notn that many Catholic prits are quietly gay is not new.

WHY DID SO MANY GAY MEN ENTER THE PRITHOOD THE 20TH CENTURY?

Cozzens suggted that the prithood was creasgly beg a gay profsn. Cozzens timated that as much as 58 percent of prits were gay, and that percentag were even higher for younger prits. His numbers matched prev timat by soclogists who put the numbers of gay prits between 10 and 60 percent.

GAY PRITS: BREAKG THE SILENCE

Father Gary Meier, a gay, St. Louis-based Catholic clergymen, says there's a wi range of statistics out there on gay prits, but jok that his experience, "30 percent are gay, 30 percent are straight, and 30 percent are nial. " "It is such a breath of h air to hear somethg different than the anti-gay hostily that we hear om so much of the hierarchy of our church, " he says.

"But this is also om the same person who lled gay marriage the work of the vil. " In 2010, when Francis was the archbishop of Buenos Air, he lled proposed laws on gay unns Argenta a "stctive attack on God's plan. " He later referred to gay marriage as "the vil's work.

Not one uttered the word “gay. “I really am gay, ” Father Green, now a prit near Milwkee, remembered tellg himself for the first time.