More than a month after the Vatican fired him for his public coming-out as a gay, a priest has declared that he has no regrets about the whole affair.
Krzysztof Charamsa
The formerly high-ranking Polish priest, Krzysztof Charamsa says he is unrepentant about his stand on homosexuality and is planning a book about his experience.
The 43-year-old was sacked from his post where he worked for the Vatican office protecting Catholic doctrine, and is now unemployed.
Speaking to AFP at a hotel in the heart of Barcelona, where he now lives in the gay district, he said: "I now feel better gay and more of a priest than before."
Smiling, he said he felt "liberated" and "at peace", but still had a lot to say about the Church, which he accuses of persecuting homosexuals.
"It's not like the Islamic State (group) that hounds homosexuals by killing them. The Catholic Church doesn't actually kill people, but it kills them psychologically.
It kills them with its backward stance, with its reject, contempt and constant preaching against homosexuals."
Charamsa detailed his "New manifesto for gay liberation", which he plans to hand over to the Vatican in the hope of changing the Church's stance on homosexuality.
The manifesto titled "A form of new Ten Commandments to apply in this field", asks the Vatican to discard Church documents that are hostile towards homosexuals, such as Benedict XVI's 2005 official proclamation banning bishops from ordaining homosexuals into the priesthood.
As such, the manifesto calls on the Vatican to allow gays to become priests, and also to revise its interpretation of Biblical texts on this issue.
It also suggests kickstarting dialogue with Evangelists and Anglicans, whom Charamsa says are more open on gay rights, and asks for apologies from the Vatican "for its omissions and silences, persecutions and crimes against homosexuals throughout the centuries."