Alfredo Ormando

Alfredo Ormando (born December 15, 1958 in Messina , † January 23, 1998 in Rome ) was a homosexual Italian theologian and writer . He set himself on fire in St. Peter's Square on January 13, 1998 to protest against the Roman Catholic Church's attitude towards homosexuality . For many he became a symbol of the inhumane attitude of the Catholic Church towards homosexual Christians.

Ormando was admitted to the intensive care unit at Sant'Eugenio Hospital after the fire was put out by two police officers, but died there a few days later.

In a suicide note found and published after his death, he wrote:

I ask forgiveness for coming into this world, for poisoning the air with my breath, for daring to think I could live like a free man, for not accepting that I was different - when I didn't feel "different", for believing that homosexuality was natural, for putting myself on the same level as heterosexuals ... for daring , to laugh.

With the desire for a patron saint for gays, Ormando was proposed for canonization by the Italian gay organization Dionysos Arcigay in 2002 . The American Christian activist group Soulforce held a vigil in St. Peter's Square in 2005 . They called on the Vatican to apologize for its attitude towards homosexuals and appealed to believers to boycott the Vatican by refusing to make donations.

Web links

• Alfredo's Fire , Article at openeyepictures.com (en)
• Soulforce Alert, January 3, 2001 ( June 9, 2007 memento on the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Soulforce" is reminiscent of Alfredo Ormando ( memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ Demands for a gay saint
3. ^ Lespress Heft 10/2005: Rome: Donation boycott. P. 6. Retrieved September 10, 2012.