Officials with the Catholic Church are stunned at a report that said priests from New Jersey to the Vatican are using same-sex messaging apps to expose and condemn gay priests, according to the New York Times.
Conservative Catholic news outlets claimed priests of the faith had used the app to connect for sexual encounters despite taking a vow of celibacy. It also runs adrift of the doctrinal view that homosexuality is unnatural and sinful.
The Times said Catholic officials it reached out to expressed concern for the issue of transparency, but also the assumed right to privacy.
Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, a recent top official for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, resigned recently after the same news outlet alleged his wireless phone history showed he accessed the app and visited gay bars.
Last month, The Lillar claimed it found dozens of users on the gay social app Grindr in the Vatican despite the church’s stance on gay marriage. More than 30 devices pinged the app from the Vatican in 2018, the news outlet said.
It’s unclear how The Pillar obtained priests’ cell phone download records.
Grindr has said The Pillar “brazenly” ignored “ethical, moral, and legal lines,” although it’s still unclear how it obtained the information.
“What is clear is that this work involved much more than just a small blog,” Grindr said last month.
Grindr paid more than $11 million for violating users’ personal information under European privacy laws earlier this year.
“When there is reporting out there that claims to expose activity like this in parishes around the country and also on Vatican grounds, that is a five-alarm fire for church officials, there is no doubt about it,” John Gehring, the director of Faith in Public Life, told the Times.
Liberal Catholic critics have condemned the connection of the use of the Grindr app to adults who prey on young children, pointing out how the conflation of homosexuality and pedophilia has been exploited to support a narrative.
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