GIVEN the rampant misogyny, homophobia and emotional and physical abuse that characterises the Roman Catholic Church it beggars belief that people—especially members of LGBT+ communities—would want to be associated in any way with this toxic, multinational corporation.
But the sad truth is that suckers for punishment exist in all walks of life, none more so than than those who scuttle down the rabbit-hole of religious belief.
Cue the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, some members of which are pictured above. I’d never heard of them until I read that some fetched up in Lisbon for World Youth Day 2023.
In doing so they succeeded in seriously pissing off some hard-line “traditionalists” who disrupted a queer Mass held at the Church of Our Lady of the Incarnation.
According to The National Catholic Reporter, there were rumblings of discontent well before the Mass was staged, and police were on standby to deal with any problems that might arise.
So when a dozen protesters, wearing wore long mantillas and brandishing crucifixes tried drown out the priests and congregants with a “reparatory prayer” during the Mass, they were quickly ejected in a “muscular” manner, according to Portuguese news outlet, Visao.
Image via Wiki CC
One the priests involved the Mass, “openly gay” Fr. James Alison, above, said:
I was terribly sorry to see these people who have been led to this terrible ideology of hatred. They live in a weird, alienated world and did not look happy. We were principally sad for them.
Alison said that the fact that the protest occurred on the same days that Pope Francis—who arrived in Portugal August 2 for a five-day visit for World Youth Day—repeatedly emphasised that everyone has a home in the Catholic Church, showed that the Mass was “clearly in line with the Holy Father’s message.”
The NCR reported that the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics and a local Portuguese LGBT+ Catholic group had to scramble to find a new location to hold the Mass after their original hosts got cold feet and cancelled the event.
Visao reported that among those who organised the protest was Rafael da Silva, who claimed that the disruption was “a peaceful initiative” and that “it was not against the gay community”.
He added that “individually, we have nothing against these people. The enemy is this [LGBT+] ideology and priests who defend it” in flagrant disregard of Church teaching and God’s will.”
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