Seville church website removes article on “curing” homosexuality

A Seville parish church has removed an article from its webpage that offered advice on how to “cure” homosexuality.

According to the parish priest of the Dulce Nombre de María church, the text was posted by the volunteer who runs the webpage “without prior warning.”

The piece urged parishioners to share the article to “confront the ideology that destroys Christian families”

Published last Thursday to coincide with Gay Pride celebrations, the piece was titled “Curing homosexuality is possible,” and was accompanied by a collection of therapies by US conversion therapy advocate Richard Cohen aimed at “healing” homosexuals. It also offered advice and technical and therapeutic information for families, according to the local Diario de Sevilla newspaper.

The introduction to the piece, which was removed on Monday morning, encouraged parishioners to share and distribute the article in order to “confront the ideology that destroys Christian families.”

In a press statement, parish priest Santiago César González Alba made it clear that he was not the author of the article and that it had been published by another person without warning.

“I want to use this opportunity to apologize to the people and groups who have been offended by this unfortunate entry,” he said.

LGTB groups have condemned the publication of the article and demanded that the Seville bishopric identify those responsible. “These statements cannot go unpunished,” they said in a statement.