A Roman Catholic priest in the American city of Chicago was removed from office after he performed an exorcism on the flag of the LGBT community. The local archbishop stated this in an official letter.
Father Paul Kalchik was dismissed because he burned the rainbow flag - the symbol of the LGBT community - in front of parishioners, despite the Chicago diocese's warning not to do so, NBC News reported.
In an interview with the TV channel, Kalchik said that he did it in a private setting, so as not to provoke anger on the part of LGBT people against the parishioners of the church. “It is our right to destroy it [the flag], we did it in solitude, because the diocese was breathing down our backs,” he said. According to him, he and the parishioners burned the canvas while reciting an exorcist prayer.
“We cut it [the flag] into seven pieces, and burned it one by one in the cauldron that we use during the Easter service,” Kalchik said. According to the priest, he literally refers to what the Bible says: “If anyone lies with a man as with a woman, then both of them have done an abomination: let their blood be put to death” (Leviticus 20:13). At the same time, in an interview, he said that he was not homophobic and added that "he is the same hater of homosexuals as Mother Teresa."