A Gay Lobby in the Vatican? “I am shocked, shocked” (Captain Renault) During a Papal audience on June 6, Pope Francis reportedly mentioned the existence of a gay lobby in the Vatican. The audience was with six religious (three men and three women) from ‘CLAR’, the Latin American Conference of Religious . An account of the Pope’s remarkable remarks on a wide range of topics was posted on a Chilean website, with extensive pick-up in mainstream Italian media, on CNN and in the blogosphere. Some preliminary comments, as I prepare (carefully) a longer blog post… The Vatican spokesman gave a terse ‘no comment’, not a denial. The conversation was in the Pope’s First Language, Español; no wiggle room based on a linguistic lapsus. Interesting that the word ‘lobby’ was used, not ‘group’ or ‘clique’. Fair to speculate that this was not a gaffe, but perhaps a subtle indication of other things to come. However, during my May trip to Rome a ranking prelate in the Curia spoke about the staff’s fear of the Pope’s off-the-cuff (‘a braccio’) comments. All roads of conjecture in Rome lead to The Report, the 300-page secret document prepared last year on the Vatileaks scandal, submitted to Pope Benedict in December, and probably the proximate cause of his resignation.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:06:06 +0000
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