At St. Patrick’s Cathedral late last week, nearly a thousand mourners paid their respects to transgender activist and actress Cecilia Gentili. However, the Archdiocese of New York condemned it as “scandalous” and “sacrilegious.”
There were over a thousand mourners at Gentili’s burial, and the footage shows them screaming her name, cheering, singing, and praising her for being a beacon of hope for the LGBTQ+ community in the city.
A widely shared spoken obituary praised Gentili as a saint and referred to her as the “mother of all whores.”
The Cathedral’s Rev. Enrique Salvo deemed the action scandalous and a powerful reminder of the need for grace, prayer, repentance, reparation, and compassion during this sacred season of Lent,
A statement from Gentili’s family refuted the accusation that the church had been misled and instead said that the event, in a historic act of resistance against the Church’s anti-trans bigotry and deceit, had given the Cathedral great pleasure and priceless life.
A post on Gentili’s Instagram confirmed her death on February 6th; she was 52 years old.
The rare “Mass of Reparation” that the cathedral held in response to the funeral of the self-proclaimed trans/atheist was prompted by the troubling wake. As per the instruction of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the cathedral held the cleansing mass.
The Catholic Encyclopedia states that this church service is meant to offer penance for sin.
In an X post, the conservative organization CatholicVote characterized the service as sick.
A co-founder of the Priestly Society of Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman, the Rev. Nicholas Gregoris, condemned the event in a separate article, describing it as a blasphemous and heretical disaster and an appalling affront to the most illustrious Catholic church in America.
Saint Patrick’s priest, the Rev. Enrique Salvo, issued a statement on Saturday expressing gratitude to those who disapproved of the funeral.
Numerous notable New Yorkers have funerals in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, an architectural and touristic icon in Manhattan. These include Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, Babe Ruth, and emergency responders who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist assault.
