Within soaring St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, on the day after Lent began, a funeral was held for a transgender activist and atheist, who one eulogy called “the mother of all whores.”
Thursday’s funeral of Cecilia Gentili has since been denounced as “insult to the Catholic faith” that brought an apology from the Archdiocese of New York, according to The New York Times.
The funeral drew about 1,000 people.
Interspersed with prayers for transgender rights and support for drugs and surgeries to perform gender transitions, one eulogy referred to the deceased as “Saint Cecilia, the mother of all whores,” as the cathedral exploded in cheers.
WARNING: The following contains language that may offend some readers.
🚨Anti-Catholic group of trans “activists” stage a mockery of the Christian faith INSIDE St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC:
The mob staged a supposed funeral service for Cecilia Gentili, a transgender, atheist prostitute during who they eulogized as: “This whore. This great whore.… pic.twitter.com/7w0wmifzkH
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) February 16, 2024
As noted by Fox News, others were deeply offended.
“For Catholics, this is a catastrophe. And how this happened at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, we have to figure out who vetted this person. We know from the organizers they lied. They kept the fact that this was a trans activist and an atheist under wraps,” Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo said on the “Big Weekend Show.”
“This is not a Broadway theater, this is not a club. This is a house of worship. You must come on the terms of the church,” he said.
Fox News co-host Anita Vogel noted that “to have this happen there of all places [in] America’s parish, is all kinds of wrong.”
The Archdiocese of New York posted a statement saying it had no idea what was going to happen.
“Thanks to so many who have let us know they share our outrage over the scandalous behavior at a funeral here at St. Patrick’s Cathedral earlier this week,” the statement said.
“The Cathedral only knew that family and friends were requesting a funeral Mass for a Catholic and had no idea our welcome and prayer would be degraded in such a sacrilegious and deceptive way. That such a scandal occurred at ‘America’s Parish Church’ makes it worse; that it took place as Lent was beginning, the annual forty–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,” the statement said, adding, “At the Cardinal’s directive, we have offered an appropriate Mass of Reparation.”
Arroyo was not appeased by that statement, Fox News reported.
“Everybody can come and repent and be a part of God’s kingdom, but you can’t come here and stage a protest like this. It was a sacrilege to yell out Saint Cecilia while they’re singing the Ave Maria, or do the kind of frantic dances,” he said.
“They had horrible posters up, people in fishnets and thongs. I’m sorry, if they’d been lied to, when you saw the crowd coming in with Billy Porter doing a dance, that was probably a good indication this should have been called off. It’s an outrage, and America needs answers,” Arroyo said.
The Gentili family was also irked at the statement, accusing the archdiocese of “hypocrisy and anti-trans hatred.” in a statement, the Times reported.
“The only deception present at St. Patrick’s Cathedral is that it claims to be a welcoming place for all,” the statement said.
