- The Daily Knight
Parish Priest to Pope: ‘You are Hurting my Parish’ by Promoting Homosexuality
The Daily Knight
‘When you promote homosexuality, Holy Father, you hurt me and my parish. When you do not speak clearly, you make my priestly task very difficult,’ Father Joseph Illo wrote.
SAN FRANCISCO (LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic priest in San Francisco published an open letter to Pope Francis accusing the pontiff of “hurting” his parish and ministry by promoting homosexuality and urging him to preach the Gospel clearly.
“My Papa Francesco, I must tell you that you are making my job as a parish priest difficult,” wrote Father Joseph Illo of Star of the Sea Parish in the letter dated October 6.
“I am writing to you in the spirit of parrhesia, a biblical word you have used several times to encourage us to speak freely, boldly, and without fear of disagreement,” the priest said. “Please receive the following words freely, not from Rome, but from the peripheries, from a simple parish priest.”
Father Illo noted that he works “in one of the declining parishes of San Francisco, California, a city that prides itself in having evolved beyond faith in God.”
“In my city, the faith is openly mocked and attacked, and my parishioners are struggling to believe in Jesus. Most of their family members, friends, and co-workers have abandoned the Christian faith,” he described. “My parishioners are clinging to the simple truths of our faith, especially the Church’s teachings about the human person.”
But Father Illo said that Pope Francis’ promotion of homosexuality has harmed his flock and made his work as a pastor “very difficult.”
“When you promote homosexuality, Holy Father, you hurt me and my parish. When you do not speak clearly, you make my priestly task very difficult,” he wrote.
“You have said that two men cannot ‘marry,’ and that homosexual acts are wrong, but you also encourage bishops who bless same-sex unions,” the priest said.
He related the story of a woman from his parish who entered into a same-sex “marriage” and underwent mutilating transgender surgeries, grieving her mother.
A female student from my parish, who attends a Jesuit-owned university, “married” another woman according to United States law. She later surgically removed her breasts and uterus to appear like a man. She hates her mother for raising her Catholic, and her mother grieves the loss of her daughter and grandchildren.
The young woman, Father Illo told Francis, “points to you, Holy Father.”
“She says you permit blessings for homosexual unions in Germany, and that you favor priests and cardinals who promote homosexual relations. She knows that you have appointed a European cardinal who promotes homosexual unions to lead the Synod,” he wrote.