Catholic sex scandal as undercover reporter 'films priests at gay clubs and having casual flings'

[demoleft]

Source: daily mail

A gay priest sex scandal has rocked the Catholic Church in Italy today after a weekly news magazine released details of a shock investigation it had carried out.

Using hidden cameras, a journalist from Panorama magazine - owned by Italian Prime Minister and media baron Silvio Berlusconi - filmed three priests as they attended gay nightspots and had casual sex.

...

The article describes how the reporter was assisted by a gay 'accomplice' as they 'gate-crashed the wild nights of a number of priests in Rome who live a surprising double-life.'

In it's preview, Panorama added: 'By day they are regular priests, complete with dog collar, but, at night it's off with the cassock as they take their place as perfectly integrated members of the Italian capital's gay scene.'





Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1297083/Gay-priest-sex-scandal-undercover-Berlusconi-reporter-films-clerics-gay-clubs.html

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vehement reaction from the vatican. cardinal Agostino Vallini thunders against unfaithful priests who betray their mission getting the advantages of the status. "nessuno li costringe a rimanere preti, sfruttandone solo i benefici" - nobody compels them to remain priests, getting only the benefits (my translation)

agi, http://www.agi.it/in-primo-piano/notizie/201007231328-ipp-rt10105-preti_gay_vicariato_perseguire_con_rigore_chi_ha_doppia_vita
good now, that the first reaction is not denial. i appreciate it.

the link to Panorama, with pics from the reportage.
http://blog.panorama.it/italia/2010/07/22/le-notti-brave-dei-preti-gay-una-grande-inchiesta-in-edicola-venerdi-con-panorama/

[rfranklin]

1. Undercover gays disguised as priests infiltrate the Vatican crime family!

Mortal Sins--It's the new hit TV series on Fox!

[qb]

2. It's consensual sex between adults. Where's the Vatican's outrage over priests abusing children?

[KurtNYC]

3. +1 and this article seems to equivocate the 2

How 1955 of them! I find this article offensive.

[Javaman]

6. bizarre, isn't it?

They freak out about consenting adults, but they don't freak out about child molesters.

Kind of paints a very scary picture of the vatican.

[izquierdista]

7. No such thing as "consensual" sex

According to them, sex is only for a hetero couple, after marriage, without birth control, for the sole purpose of having children.

[saigon68]

16. They have to keep Mr. Winkie behind the zipper

[meowomon]

4. Sad that he has to hide

Sad all around. I hope he can get through this ok.

[crim son]

5. The only reason this is worth reporting is that

it is necessary to uncover every single "scandal" of this nature so the Catholic apologists will be forced to shut their mouths, and the laity will have a clear understanding of the organization they have called the One True Church.

[Alcibiades]

8. I don't read Italian

But does "Padre Carlo celebra la messa in una Chiesa romana vicino al Pantheon" mean he celebrates mass in the Pantheon? Cool church to work at, especially because it's pagan.

Having sex in your cassock? This all strikes me as very naughty. If every gay priest came out, they would be out of business. They really need an equal rights movement in Catholicism.

[JDPriestly]

9. No. "Vicino" means "near." Think about "vicinity" in English.

[gvstn]

10. So true!

Alcbiades said:
If every gay priest came out, they would be out of business.

I think in times past the Catholic priesthood was a haven when it was socially "untoward" to be an unmarried man. Gay men joined up just to shut up the gossip mongers. It was easier to become a priest than explain their continued unmarried status. Unfortunately, it also caused many to be in a state of arrested sexual development so they fixated on adolescents because that is when they shut down sexually. Very sad.

Hopefully, that generation is dying out and with it the sex scandals. Celibacy is not normal and it looks like few can actually sustain it unless they join the priesthood later in life.

Ratzinger wears red Prada shoes so I'm not sure he thinks there is a problem. ;) But just as the sun was eventually allowed to be the center of the solar system, I believe a future pope will get the word that Catholic priests should be allowed to marry.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

12. translation

Father Carlo celebrates mass in a Roman church near the Pantheon.

[struggle4progress]

11. "... i nomi sono inventati per proteggere l’identità dei sacerdoti ..."

Well, okay ... but then it might be just another unprovable claim from one of Berlusconi's fishwrappers

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

13. Berlusconi and the church are very close, so I don't see how

this report would be in any way something to help Berlusconi, who is already having issues with investigations into secret societies and some of his own party members, ministers and judges who are/were involved with it. Berlusconi's popularity is at an all-time low and hopefully this time around the Italian people will realize he is scum. The problem is that the majority of the population in Italy is made up of middle-aged and older folks who still idolize the style of politician that Berlusconi is. The young people unfortunately are few (Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in the world) and it seems that they can see through the BS that Berlusconi represents. Of course, there are people in all age groups pro/con Berlusconi, but generally speaking there is a very large age gap that delineates the schism between the Berlusconi fans and non-fans.

I guess the report illustrates the hypocrisy of the church in its edicts on the ordination of women and recent legal turmoil with all the cases of pedophilia that have come out.

[struggle4progress]

18. Berlusconi is, I think, rather like Murdoch: he runs a media empire

that makes money from noise rather than news

A story that purports to expose a massive scandal of Catholic priests hanging out at gay bars for sex, without providing the actual names of priests or gay bars, and which provides only indeterminate photographic evidence, is (quite simply) nothing more than a marketing tool. The Panorama link, when I clicked it, contained links to numerous other stories about pornography:

Half a million Italians addicted to pornography!
Porn star Brigitta Bulgari: what did I do wrong? (topless photo included)
Babylon: following the trail of sex in our country (bondage photo included)
Efe: the most sought-after trans
Porn star for a day: photos!
Economic crisis affects even the porn industry
Girls of Periscope (topless photo included)

This particular story thus occurs in a particular marketing context: it belongs to a long-established well-known and continuing soft-porn marketing ploy, which is to include some ridicule of religion. See, as another example,

Playboy Kills Off Portuguese Edition Over Sexy Jesus Photo Shoot
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x253855

[Divine Discontent]

14. the govt & the catholic governing body are a wreck over there. the sooner they stfu about gays

being allowed to be open, the faster the illicit and shameful behavior will begin to dissipate. I believe as others have said, that this is caused by the controlled status of their sexuality by the church.

If someone wants to remain celibate, WONDERFUL, if they're forced to? Good Luck with the outcome!

[KansDem]

15. So? They can go to "confession" and be completely forgiven.

God will welcome them to his Kingdom in the afterlife.

Nice gig if you can get it...

[hedgehog]

17. The Catholic Sacrament of Penance is not a "get out of Hell free"

card. The mere recital of one's sins to a priest and his recitation of the prayer giving absolution do not complete the sacrament. One must also be truly sorry to have sinned and resolved to avoid the sin in the future as well as to make restitution as appropriate. There are multiple rites for the Sacrament of Penance. The one involving personal confession to a priest came from the Irish custom of having a personal counselor who would assist you in changing your life for the better.

[kpete]

19. Catholic church embarrassed by gay priests revelations

Source: Guardian UK


Catholic church embarrassed by gay priests revelations

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

The Catholic church, already reeling from a string of clerical sex abuse scandals, is 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 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".

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/24/catholic-church-gay-priests-exposed

[saltpoint]

20. Sometimes a long-standing restaurant needs new

owners, brand new managers -- say some female managers, for example -- and a complete rehaul of the menu.

It's hard to warm up to going to a restaurant that doesn't serve everyone.

[Titanium-Salute]

21. Gee...no one thought there were gay priests.

The Catholic Church is like a little kid. They only tell the truth when they get caught. Like it is some big surprise or something. I grew upCatholic. The people who sit like sheep in a Catholic Church week after week being told things like Birth Control is evil along with homosexuality.

I remember this freaky priest yelling at a group of us 14 year olds (in the church) that if we touched ourselves "sinnfully" we'd rot in hell. A few years later it was revealed he molested some kids at a different church.

[UTUSN]

22. Which is it, Ratz?!1 "A smile is not a sin..."

**********QUOTE********

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100403/ap_on_re_eu/eu_church_abuse_pope_s_advisers

Small coterie advises pope, but decisions his own

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has surrounded himself with a small group of men he feels he can trust, but he acts very much on his own. That isolation and shunning of advice have frequently created problems and are increasingly under scrutiny as the clerical sex scandal inches closer to him. ....

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi — who has frequently had to put out these fires... ....

The Rev. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer who has testified in U.S. court cases about Vatican secrecy and sex abuse, has written about the medieval-era canonical concept of the "privilege of the forum" — whereby clerics accused of crimes were tried by church courts, not civil courts. ....

It is formed principally by the Vatican's No. 2 official, Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Benedict's trusted deputy during his long years as a Vatican official; and Benedict's private secretary, fellow German Monsignor Georg Ganswein. The pope also is known to still consult his former personal secretary, Monsignor Josef Clemens, now the No. 2 at the Vatican office for the laity.

Benedict's closest friend is his older brother, Georg, a retired priest who often visits from Germany but who himself has been drawn into the scandal stemming from his years leading a pre-eminent German choir. ....




gaenswein.jpg

*************QUOTE**********

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1728239,00.html

The Heartthrob from the Vatican

By Jeff Israely/Rome

When Pope Benedict XVI touches down for his first papal visit in the United States next week, you may notice that he doesn't have the same onstage flair as his predecessor, John Paul II. But you may also begin to notice a very handsome man of the cloth never far from the pontiff's side. That would be Monsignor Georg Gänswein, the Pope's personal secretary, responsible for everything from deciding who gets to see Benedict, to keeping His Holiness on schedule, to discreetly handing him his papal reading glasses just before a homily or other public discourse. While he is the paradigm of discretion, others have taken liberties with his image. Fashion designer Donatella Versace said her Spring 2007 collection was inspired by Gänswein, confessing: "I was thinking of an austere, severe and ethical man. I find Father Georg's austerity very elegant."

Italians have taken notice of Gänswein, and nicknamed him "Bel Giorgio," which Americans might translate as: Gorgeous George. Paparazzi have snapped photos of him playing tennis in his tennis whites, while the Roman and Bavarian press eagerly report his bravura on the ski slopes and appearances at evening Church functions. Nevertheless, despite the glamour imposed on him by the celebrity press, the tall, athletic and dirty-blond Monsignor in his clerical black, concentrates on his pivotal but quiet job choreographing papal appearances. And that is how Americans will see him, in a supporting role buoyed by his scene-stealing good looks. ....



http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2006/11/18/pope-benedict-issues-formal-vatican-decree-a-smile-is-not-a-sin/

Pope Benedict Issues Formal Vatican Decree: A Smile Is Not a Sin

November 18, 2006

POPE BENEDICT AND MSGR. GANSWEIN, THE POPE’S DEVOTED PERSONAL SECRETARY

The New York Times published an article today that disclosed some of the jokes making their rounds about Pope Benedict and his secretary, Msgr. Georg Ganswein. This brief extract from the Times article describes some of those satirical moments:

Perhaps it is his good looks, or his work in the ever-so-serious Vatican, but for whatever reason, Msgr. Georg Gänswein, Pope Benedict XVI’s secretary, has suddenly found himself the butt of jokes in the Italian news media. ....

In a curious “non-response” to this growing wave of satire, the pope’s secretary told his radio audience that “the Vatican was not offended.” “We’re convinced that smiles bring religion closer to the people,” he said, “because a smile is never a sin.”

Pope is Wrong: This One’s Very Sinful.

In response to the Times article, Andrew Sullivan published this irreverent, biting criticism of the article (and the Pope) today on his Time Magazine blog, The Daily Dish:

“The NYT runs a very curious article today about Italian humor about the current Pope. None of the jokes cited seem to me to be very risque or even funny. The entire argument of the piece is undermined by lack of any real evidence that this pope is subject to any more ridicule than has historically been the case. Except of course for that photograph (see above, seated with Msgr. Georg Ganswein). It shows the actual source of the jokes circulating in the Vatican and elsewhere about this Prada-preferring, Gucci-wearing, high-drama German intellectual (Pope). The actual jokes – which the NYT won’t print – are about how good looking so many of the men are who surround Benedict, especially his personal assistant, Msgr. Georg Gänswein, shown holding the large phallic microphone in front of Benedict’s face. The Vatican gossip merchants call Georg 'Gay-Org.' He is inseparable from Benedict. And he surely is easy on the eyes. There is no evidence that Benedict has ever broken his vows of chastity; but there is no evidence that he is heterosexual either. Hence the gossip; hence the jokes. When you’re a Pope who declares that even closeted, chaste gay men cannot be priests, it’s pushing your luck to clothe yourself in Prada, bedeck your Pope-mobile with luxurious Natuzzi Italian white leather, and surround yourself with assistants who look like they strayed from the pages of 'L’Uomo Vogue.'

"Butch it up, sister. Or the jokes will only get louder.”

******************UNQUOTE************