Cecilia Gentili
The Mother of All Whores
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the seat of the Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan, says it was tricked into hosting a raucous funeral for a transgender activist and atheist who was hailed as “Saint Cecilia, the mother of all whores.”
The New York Times reports that the Archdiocese of New York said in a statement that it was outraged by “the scandalous behavior” at Thursday’s sendoff for Cecilia Gentili, who died at the age of 52 after years of advocating for sex workers and those with HIV. We “had no idea our welcome and prayer would be degraded in such a sacreligious [sic] and deceptive way,” the church’s statement said, adding that a special “mass of reparation” was held afterward.
The Gentili family responded with its own angry statement, slamming the church for its “hypocrisy and anti-trans hatred,” and the funeral organizer said they had kept the details of Gentili’s life secret from the cathedral out of fear they would be blocked from holding it in the iconic location.
Easter service size crowd
The service on Thursday was an event that most likely had no precedent in Catholic history. The pews were packed with mourners, many of them transgender, who wore daring high-fashion outfits and cheered as eulogists led them in praying for transgender rights and access to gender-affirming health care. One eulogy, a video clip of which was widely shared online Friday, remembered Ms. Gentili as “Saint Cecilia, the mother of all whores,” to the thunderous cheers of a nearly full cathedral.
CatholicVote, a conservative group, called the funeral “unbelievable and sick” and said it was “a mockery of the Christian faith.” The Rev. Nicholas Gregoris, a co-founder of the Priestly Society of Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman, called it “revolting,” a “blasphemous & sacrilegious fiasco” and “a deplorable desecration of America’s most famous Catholic Church.”
CatholicVote is pissed at Billy Porter who sang at the funeral. “This is the same anti-Christian performer who “very devout Catholic” Joe Biden actively campaigns with and INVITED to perform at the White House Christmas Tree lighting to a crowd of clapping seals and to awkwardly dance to a BLM protest song at the DNC.”
He’s good, bottom left.
“That such a scandal occurred at ‘America’s parish church’ makes it worse,” Rev. Enrique Salvo, the pastor of St. Patrick’s said, referring to the funeral. “That it took place as Lent was beginning, the annual 40-day struggle with the forces of sin and darkness, is a potent reminder of how much we need the prayer, reparation, repentance, grace and mercy to which this holy season invites us.”
