Catholic church embarrassed by gay priests revelations

Vatican on defensive again after magazine exposes priests visiting gay clubs and bars and having sex


* John Hooper in Rome
* The Guardian, Saturday 24 July 2010


The Catholic church, already reeling from a string of clerical sex abuse scandals, was last night facing new embarrassment after an Italian magazine published an investigation into what it termed the double life of gay priests in Rome.

Using hidden cameras, the weekly Panorama, owned by Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, captured priests visiting gay clubs and bars and having sex. The Vatican does not condemn homosexuals, but it teaches that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered". In one of his earliest moves, pope Benedict barred actively gay men from studying for the priesthood.

The diocese of Rome lashed out at the prime minister's magazine, saying its aim was "to create scandal [and] defame all priests". But it also urged gay clerics to leave both the closet and the priesthood.

It said, "Consistency would require that they come into the open", but that they "ought not to have become priests".

The semi-official papal daily, L'Osservatore Romano, made no reference to the affair. Vatican Radio reported it briefly.

One priest, a Frenchman in his 30s identified as Father Paul, attended a party at which there were two male prostitutes then said Mass the following morning before driving them to the airport, Panorama reported. A photo on its website claimed to show the priest in his dog collar but without his trousers with a gay man who acted as decoy for the magazine. In other shots, priests were shown apparently kissing Panorama's collaborator.

A member of the clergy quoted by the magazine put the proportion of gay priests in the Italian capital at "98%". The Rome diocese insisted the vast majority of priests in the city were "models of morality for all", while adding that the number of gay clergyman was "small, but not to be written off as isolated cases". A review eight years ago of research on the American church concluded that between a quarter and a half of seminarians and priests there were homosexual.

A former Italian MP and gay activist, Franco Grillini, said: "If all the gays in the Catholic church were to leave it at once – something we would very much like – they would cause it serious operational problems."

Another well-known spokesman for the gay community, Aurelio Mancuso, condemned Panorama's investigation as a "horrible political and cultural operation", but agreed that if priests in Rome were to follow the advice given to them in yesterday's statement, it would "paralyse" the diocese.

In March, the pope's own household was rocked by scandal when court documents revealed a Vatican chorister had procured male prostitutes for a papal gentleman-in-waiting.

Catholic church embarrassed by gay priests revelations | World news | The Guardian

Homosexuality is a dagger in the side of the church as a specific area where the church is lagging behind secular morality, the longer the churches deny moderization the deeper a wound it will inflict, but the church, stuborn as always, will surly resist to the last.

And ofcourse, we must quietly accept and respect their intolerence >,>

__________________

and pay a fortune for it when his holiness decides he wants a holiday....

__________________
The New Topical: current affairs, current events, politics, political, culture, cultural, ethics & economics discussion debate forum.

This is awesome. It's so baroque and gothic, and with the underage stuff as well, it's perfect. Nowadays no one cares where you stick it, so the Church is the only place that you can go for this sort of story, with the added plus of an atmospheric background.

I don't know if anyone's written a manga about this, but they should.

__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.

Originally Posted by Zichao

This is awesome. It's so baroque and gothic, and with the underage stuff as well, it's perfect. Nowadays no one cares where you stick it, so the Church is the only place that you can go for this sort of story, with the added plus of an atmospheric background. I don't know if anyone's written a manga about this, but they should.

Well rule 34 states there's atleast Hentai of it,

__________________

This is good news. Instead of being wizened, emotionally hobbled, sex-deprived prunes, many priests apparently fancy a good root like all the rest of us. (As if we already didn't know.)

Would it be too much to ask of Catholic parishes that their church billboards declare their priest's sexual proclivity?

Some might be genuinely celibate, so most parishioners who wish counselling on personal relations would give them a miss. The most favoured probably would be those who proclaim that they have a warm, celibate and loving relationship with their housekeeper, who has consequently born a virgin child. Those who have a younger man as a partner (perhaps from the Philippines or China) should be noted for their ecumenical broad-mindedness.

That may leave a residue of priests who are unwilling to say. Perhaps they should be visited by child welfare authorities. Or guerilla documentary makers.

In any case, the Catholic Church is like the army. You cannot leave by just stopping to go there. A complicated process is required.