Raul Vera Lopez, the Catholic bishop of
Saltillo, Mexico has vowed to continue his outreach to the gay
community.
The Vatican had summoned the bishop to
Rome to inquire about a gay-inclusive group of Catholics headed by
Noe Ruiz.
Vera publicly affiliated his diocese
with the group and sponsored its film festivals, which lead to harsh
criticism from the Peru-based Catholic news agency ACI Prensa.
Vera told El
Universal on Sunday that the Vatican had not reprimanded him.
“It is no surprise that the Church
supports sexual diversity because there are at least 50 diocese in
the United States serving gay communities,” Vera said.
He said that Vatican officials simply
made observations about his work, but the bishop did not elaborate.
“I will not abandon these children,”
he added, referring to children with gay parents. “We cannot
abandon people who depend on us.”
Earlier, Vera chided ACI Prensa, which
had claimed Vera supported groups that advocate for marriage between
members of the same sex and abortion.
“In the Diocese of Saltillo, we have
very clear objectives,” Vera told the Zocalo
Saltillo. “We work with [the gay community] to help them
recover their human dignity, which is frequently attacked at home and
in society, and they are treated like filthy people.”
“Some would like to weaken my work on
behalf of vulnerable groups, that is what they want, but I'm going to
go ahead in the struggle for human dignity which is the principle of
the Gospel,” he added.