A self-proclaimed atheist and transgender activist Cecilia Gentili's funeral caused controvery when it was held at St. Patrick's Cathedral over the weekend.
"For Catholics, this is a catastrophe. And how this happened at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, we have to figure out who vetted this person. We know from the organizers they lied. They kept the fact that this was a trans activist and an atheist under wraps," Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo said on the "Big Weekend Show." "This is not a broadway theater, this is not a club. This is a house of worship. You must come on the terms of the church."
The ceremony had well over 1,000 attendees and sparked community outrage after the funeral’s focus on praying for transgender rights and gender-affirming health care.
"I went to Saint Patrick's Cathedral this morning, as I often do when I come to New York. And, you know, I light a candle and I say a few prayers for people, and that's what a lot of people do. They go there because they feel that it's a holy place. And, you know, there's a lot of people there in great despair over many things. So to have this happen there of all places [in] America's parish, is all kinds of wrong," co-host Fox News correspondent Anita Vogel said.
Various people delivered eulogies about Gentili during the proceedings, some of which included the praise of sex workers, while others were riddled with varying profanities.
Gentili was referred to as the "Mother of all whores" in one speech which some have called a "mockery of the Christian faith."
As to how the ceremony was approved, St Patrick's Cathedral’s Father Enrique Salvo, provided some insight, stating, "The cathedral only knew that family and friends were requesting a funeral mass for a Catholic, and had no idea our welcome and prayer would be degraded in such a sacrilegious and deceptive way."
"Everybody can come and repent and be a part of God's kingdom, but you can't come here and stage a protest like this. It was a sacrilege to yell out Saint Cecilia while they're singing the Ave Maria, or do the kind of frantic dances. They had horrible posters up, people in fishnets and thongs. I'm sorry, if they'd been lied to, when you saw the crowd coming in with Billy Porter doing a dance, that was probably a good indication this should have been called off. It's an outrage, and America needs answers," Arroyo added.
Salvo’s statement expressed further "outrage" regarding Gentili’s funeral.
"That such a scandal occurred at ‘America's Parish Church’ makes it worse; that it took place as lent was beginning," he wrote.
Co-host Tomi Lahren, said, "I can only imagine how this would have turned out if perhaps they did this with any other religion, if they made a mockery of Islam, the Muslim religion. If it's against Christians or nowadays Jews, it's completely acceptable and fine, and we're supposed to be loving and tolerant, as we're being made a mockery of. This has to end, and the church has to be the one that ends it."
