Sensational claims about the 'inappropriate influence' of secretive lobbies within the Vatican have transfixed the Italian media all week.
With Italy still reeling from the news of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation, disparate cabals within the Holy SEE are now being blamed by the media for at least being part of Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to resign.
Although these eye-popping claims grab the headlines, to date no paper has come forward to explain precisely how, when or where these lobbies, which are said to include a gay lobby, have influenced internal Holy See affairs or Benedict's resignation.
According to the Irish Times, the rightward leaning news magazine Panorama and the Rome newspaper La Repubblica have reported that pope was dismayed by an internal report into the so-called 'Vatileaks' scandal released on December 17th last year.
The report, originally commissioned by the pontiff and prepared by Cardinals Julian Herranz, Jozef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi, has apparently confirmed the popular image of a Holy See riven with rivalries and rampant careerism.
The cardinals' report claims that various lobbies still unnamed within the Holy See are consistently breaking the sixth and seventh commandments, in particular 'thou shalt not steal' and 'thou shalt not commit adultery.'
The 'stealing' is reportedly related to improprieties within the Vatican Bank, IOR, and the sexual offences are allegedly related to the influence of an active gay lobby within the Vatican. But what effect, real or imagined, either lobby has had on the wider church has still not been clearly addressed in any report to date.
The cardinals' 300-page report, which paints a picture of a dysfunctional Holy See riven with financial, sexual and political improprieties, reportedly became the last straw for the pope, copper fastening his long-meditated intention to resign, according to the Italian press.
The Vatileaks scandal culminated with the arrest and conviction of the pope’s own butler, Paolo Gabriele, who was found guilty of having stolen confidential documents from the papal apartment last year.
La Repubblica also claims that the cardinals report speaks of the vague but inappropriate influence of various lobbies, some of them of a 'worldly nature,' reflecting an 'outside influence.'
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.misneac | Feb 24, 2013, 08:15 PM EST
It was with amusement that I read the comment of Ellenfromcork predicting the end of of the Catholic Church .She must be on the staff of the bigoted "Irish Times " !
eiriamach | Feb 24, 2013, 06:20 PM EST
The John Jay report that PiperMac52 cites was exposed by the press shortly after the bishops paid for and published the $8 million report. Homosexual priests are NOT "largely responsible for the sex abuse scandal(according to the Jay commission report." Pedophiles and their protectors in the Church are responsible for the sex abuse scandal. The John Jay report limited the category of pedophile victims to boys of pre-puberty age -- AND considered boys older than 10 years of age no longer in puberty and thus consenting partners in homosexual liaisons! That report is howling hypocrisy and scapegoating, and people are not likely to forget it soon.
falconflash | Feb 24, 2013, 03:34 PM EST
ellenfrompork, citizenwhy, "and the gates of hell will not destroy it." I'd pay attention if Jesus was calling me out.
falconflash | Feb 24, 2013, 03:28 PM EST
We ain't going nowhere cause Jesus said so, long ago... Mathew 16:18 amazing how Jesus knew about Prot. like Will Hamilton...
Will Hamilton | Feb 24, 2013, 02:30 PM EST
The Catholic Church Limited going bankrupt because they can't cover up the lies as well as they used to: excellent!
ellenfromcork | Feb 24, 2013, 09:50 AM EST
It's the beginning of the end of the catholic church as we know it. To everything there is a season
adrienrain | Feb 23, 2013, 06:42 PM EST
And I would add that the suppression of sexual expression, produces many forms of perversion. Pedophilia is one. Another is evidenced by the book prompted by Pope Innocent 111 - Malleus Maleficarum, 'The Hammer of Witchcraft.' It is impossible to read the description of tortures to be practiced on suspected witches (mostly women) and not recognize that torture itself is a cruel sexual perversion - a kind of snuff film, without the film.
adrienrain | Feb 23, 2013, 06:17 PM EST
Celibacy: as virtuous as constipation. Centuries of celibacy = centuries of hypocrisy and surreptitious sex, accompanied with the usual opportunities for blackmail, extortion and sexual bribery. Add to that the customary patriarchal structure's contempt for women, and much painful history is explained........
PiperMac52 | Feb 23, 2013, 03:57 PM EST
The homosexual subculture allowed to thrive within the church for decades and largely responsible for the sex abuse scandal(according to the Jay commission report over 80% involved post pubescent males), has and continues to cause the church irreparable harm. While the major news media ignores the real source.
Nicomax | Feb 23, 2013, 03:49 PM EST
Wow, this makes the mess at the Boy Scouts of America look like a Sunday picnic.
eiriamach | Feb 23, 2013, 03:45 PM EST
John Allen, writing for NCR online ("Thoughts on the Vatican's 'gay lobby'") thinks that the Vatican gays did not bring about the pope's resignation, but that too many in the Vatican were being pressured to leak damaging secrets to the press: "Here's why. In 2007, Msgr. Thomas Stenico in the Congregation for Clergy was suspended after being caught on hidden camera making contact with a young man posing as a potential 'date' in gay-oriented chat rooms, then taking him back to his Vatican apartment. In 2010, a 'Gentleman of the Pope' named Angelo Balducci was caught in a wiretap trying to arrange sexual hookups through a Nigerian member of a Vatican choir. Both episodes were highly public and caused massive embarrassment." 'Looks like Benedict XVI couldn't stop the risky financial and sexual behavior and lost heart with the continual bad press.
McNamara31 | Feb 23, 2013, 03:36 PM EST
CitizenWhy There's much truth in your statement...In the past decades the church operated more like a multinational corporation protecting its assets, than Shepherds of men, protecting souls.
CitizenWhy | Feb 23, 2013, 02:35 PM EST
When you've made a decision to run a corporate version of the Roman Empire disguised as a church this is what you can expect.
Collette2 | Feb 23, 2013, 02:28 PM EST
Why should anyone be surprised? They're a corrupt bunch and it can't be said celibate.
DrMcHugh | Feb 23, 2013, 10:49 AM EST
"The cardinals' 300-page report, which paints a picture of a dysfunctional Holy See riven with financial, sexual and political improprieties, reportedly became the last straw for the pope...." I would have hoped that the last draw for the Pope would have been the rape of children and the many suicides around the world of victims of clergy sexual abuse who gave up hope that their stories would be believed of having been sexually abused by a priest. Instead this Pope was more interested in cover-up and in protecting the predator priests. I am very grateful that Pope Benedict XVI has finally resigned.
merefalow | Feb 23, 2013, 10:45 AM EST
an gactive gay lobby in the vatican?can you believe it.pink cassocks coming up.what a shower./
McNamara31 | Feb 23, 2013, 09:34 AM EST
Luke 19:45 "It is written," he said to them, "`My house will be a house of prayer'; but you have made it `a den of robbers.'" I think its time for another temple (Vatican)cleansing!