A Catholic bishop in Switzerland has walked back statements he made about “praying the gay away.”
Last week, Bishop of Sion Jean-Marie Lovey told La Nouvelliste newspaper that homosexuality was a “sickness” and could be “cured” through prayer, claiming [some people are] “like that in the beginning, but that is not to say that it cannot be changed.”
“Psychological cures exist,” he said. “Homosexuality can be cured.”
Naturally, a lot of people were upset by this. The Lesbian Organization of Switzerland immediately called for Lovey to “correct his slip up,” issuing a statement that read, in part, “Such remarks incite rejection, exclusion and cause profound grief to young people.”
Related: Being Gay Is The Same As Having Down’s Syndrome Or Spina Bifida, Catholic Bishop Says
Well, what a difference a week makes. Because in a new interview with Le Matin newspaper published earlier this week, the bishop apologized. Sort of.
He said his comments were misinterpreted and that he regretted any pain he may have caused.
“I never wanted to hurt or stigmatize anyone,” Lovey said. “I don’t consider homosexuality to be an illness.”
“But,” he continued, “I do know people whose homosexual tendencies were fleeting, without claiming this is the case for everyone. I used the term ‘cure’ for a person who was homosexual and who talks in these terms about his personal experience.”
Who is this person? We’d like to meet him and see if this story adds up.
Related: Antigay Archbishop May Have Had Gay Sex With Other Priests, Of Course
h/t: GayStarNews
kevininbuffalo
You can’t fix what ain’t broke Bish.
Bauhaus
In all fairness, my “heterosexual tendencies” have been fleeting, too. It’s just that men are so damn delicious. Men, you see, have been my cure.
Francisco Huergo
took you a while
Howard Steiman
I don’t need to be fixed.
lcandela123
Look, I’ll believe in the effectiveness of prayer when I see an amputee grow back his limbs after the Hallelujah Chorus prays over him. OK?
jwtraveler
If all these bishops and priests and pastors and rabbis and imams and witch doctors believe in the power of prayer, maybe they should get to work and try to pray away their bigotry, intolerance and hatred of gays. If they succeed, then I’ll start believing in the power of prayer.
Alan Burnside
Still no cure for stupid!
Sluggo2007
Too bad his parents weren’t fixed.
Dale Landefeld
ah…go fix your own plumbing…but it may hurt.
Giancarlo85
Oh look… it’s another half apology… something that isn’t to be taken geniunely.
I don’t really care what this guy says. He should mind his own business.
GayEGO
This Bishop’s name should be changed from Lovey to Hatey! Gays do not need to be fixed, he does! :>)
Mack
If the power of prayer can’t fix the pedophile priest why would I want to try to “fix” me?
Lindy-Lou Nicholson
Here’s a thing – i think that “pray the gay away” is a very well chosen phrase for the religious bigots, because it suggests effort and will on the part of the gay person, rather than any Godly intervention. Therefore the person themselves can be blamed for their lack of faith etc, if they don’t change.
Personally, as a Christian, i believe that God CAN change someones sexuality should he wish to do so. The fact that he almost never does suggests that he does not think it a problem in the first place.
Roxas25
What he’s saying is not official Catholic doctrine, actually. Catholics believe people are born gay. Maybe he should read his own book of beliefs closer.
martinbakman
@Sluggo2007: At least he’s had no offspring!
thatguy33
These religious idiots sit in their community-funded temples, eat meals cooked through charity and then preach a script written thousands of years ago to dim people who will do anything to not go to hell. These retards condemned science as ‘witchcraft’ and executed Galileo for practicing it in the 17th century. Now they use technology shamelessly. The pope said last year that he thinks the internet is a “gift from god”, completely undermining decades of handwork by humans to first make a computer and then the net.
There is no hell at the center of earth, just molten lava. God could be real. But I refuse to believe that an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent supernatural entity that made EVERYTHING,from gravity to aurora borealis, is offended every time I blow my boyfriend. Such a magnificent being cannot be such a dick.
All religions are man-made. They may add a meaning to the lives of those who don’t understand that life is a biological function which eventually ends. If praying gives one peace or strength, fine, no problem. But if it encourages one to condemn those whose private lives which do not affect anybody else’s but take a toll on GOD’s peace of mind, then one is truly stupid, and probably born that way.
Anyway, the current generation is better. Fewer youngsters are staunchly religious. Not counting the Arab world, of course.
Ogre Magi
Maybe these priests need to be “Fixed” in the same way male cats and dogs are! That might stop all the pedophilia