Gay priest fearful ahead of memoirs publication

A priest fears he will be defrocked after his explosive memoirs, containing intimate details of a 14-year marriage to another gay man, are published next month.

Fr Bernard Lynch, who is openly gay and thinks gay priests make up 50% of the Catholic clergy, discloses for the first time his relationship with fellow Irishman Billy Desmond in his forthcoming autobiography.

The 64-year-old from Ennis, Co Clare, has been at loggerheads with Vatican superiors since the 1980s when he became one of the first Catholic clerics to give his public support to people dying from Aids-related illnesses.