A gay monsignor rocked the Vatican on Saturday, the eve of a major meeting of the world's Catholic bishops, when newspaper articles came out in Italy and Poland announcing his declaration of his homosexuality.
The Vatican acted quickly, dismissing Krzysztof Charamsa, 43, a mid-level official in its doctrine office, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In the newspaper interviews he granted, Charamsa said he was happy and proud to be a gay priest, and that he was in love with another man whom he identified as his boyfriend.
The Vatican did little to hide its anger.
"The decision to make such a pointed statement on the eve of the opening of the synod appears very serious and irresponsible, since it aims to subject the synod assembly to undue media pressure," the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said in a statement.
The Vatican action fell short of defrocking Charamsa. However, he could no longer work at the Vatican or its pontifical universities, Lombardi said, adding that the Vatican could take further action.
Charamsa reacted to the Vatican's statement by holding a press conference in central Rome where he was joined by his lover, identified only as Eduard.
Charamsa said his coming out into the open was not specifically arranged to coincide with the bishops' meeting on the family.
However, he said he wanted to add "a Christian voice" to the synod, which is expected to tackle problems besetting today's family, including the growing assertiveness of homosexuals.
"I came out. This is a very personal, difficult and tough decision in the Catholic Church's homophobic world," Charamsa said.
He said he has written a book in Italian and Polish to "lay bare" his experience "in front of all those who want to confront me."
In the article about him in the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, Charamsa cited the reason that motivated him to publicise his sexual orientation. He said he made the decision to come out after receiving hate mail from the public for his criticism of a right-wing Polish priest who is strongly anti-gay.
"I have to say who I am. I am a gay priest. I am a happy and proud gay priest," he told the Polish newspaper.
Meantime, in his interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, Charamsa said it's about time "the Church opened its eyes and realised that offering gay believers total abstinence from a life of love is inhuman," a BBC report said.
Charamsa has been a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith—a body tasked to defend Church doctrine—since 2003.
The monsignor is reportedly finishing a book which could reveal more details of his 12 years of hidden life inside the Vatican.
