VATICAN
365Gay.com
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: September 4, 2005 12:01 am ET
(Vatican City) A small group of Americans held a silent vigil yesterday to remember Alfredo Ormando, a gay Catholic academic who set himself on fire in St. Peter's Square in 1998.
The Americans, from the LGBT religious group Soulforce, were led by Rev. Mel White. They called on Pope Benedict to apologize for the treatment of gays by the Catholic Church.
A number of pilgrims to the Vatican stopped to ask the group about Ormando, but no officials approached the group.
On Jan. 13, 1998, Ormando entered the square, knelt, and set himself on fire. He died of his injuries 10 days later. ...
New regulations for the priesthood that would ban gays from seminaries were prepared by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries - the body that oversees all Catholic seminaries. The document has been given to Pope Benedict but he has yet to implement it.
Next month the Benedict will send investigators to the US to gauge the scale of the child abuse scandal that has rocked the American church and to determine how many gay priests are in the priesthood.