The artist and singer Antony Hegarty has accused Pope Francis of “working behind the scenes to undermine gay rights in America”.
During his visit to the US, the pope met Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for five days for disobeying a federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis’s lawyer said the pope told her to “stay strong”, while Davis said the pope thanked her for her courage. Hegarty says the pope’s decision to meet her was “shameful and pathetic”.
Hegarty, who identifies as transgender, made the remarks in a Facebook post that said Pope Francis “seems still to be causing harm and burning witches in the name of Christ, just like his forefathers. Christ himself might weep with shame.”
The full post read:
Apparently Pope Francis was working behind the scenes to undermine gay rights in America. How shameful and pathetic of him. I have been so impressed with his approach to climate and his call to end the death penalty. But for him to make insidious comments about how the ‘traditional family’ is under threat (presumably from gay marriage) and then to secretly meet that poor misguided cretin Kim Davis … I am glad that he is mobilizing his flock to care about nature, but I would still prefer that they would all just go to their heaven now and leave the rest of humanity and nature in peace here on earth. Pope Francis seems still to be causing harm and burning witches in the name of Christ, just like his forefathers. Christ himself might weep with shame. Francis attempts to distract us from Catholic sexual predators with a smokescreen of fake moralizing about gay people and their rights to live as equals in society. Pope Francis should line up one hundred gay, lesbian and transgendered people from around the world and wash and kiss their feet. He should issue a formal apology on behalf of the church for centuries of persecuting, torturing and killing us in the name of their god. Or are we not worthy of his humility, unlike criminals, the American indigenous, and the poor? Jesus Wept.
The meeting between the pope and Davis was held in secret at the Vatican embassy in Washington DC last week and only confirmed by the Vatican last week. During his visit, the pope had appeared to strike a conciliatory tone on the topic of sexuality, and the Vatican historian Alberto Melloni, quoted in the New York Times, suggested his meeting with Davis was likely to be the result of his support for conscientious objection across a range of matters, rather than as a statement of principle of same-sex marriage.
