Fresh Scandal: Vatican Owns Building With Gay Bathhouse
 |
| Next-door neighbours: The website of Europe's largest gay sauna, Europa Multiclub, which is housed in an apartment part-owned by the Holy See |
Already, there are claims that Pope Benedict XVI resigned because of a gay cabal in the Vatican.
Now, as the College of Cardinals prepares to elect his successor later today, a fresh scandal is out - this time over news that several priests share an apartment block with Europe's largest homosexual sauna.
And the senior Vatican figure sweating the most due to this scandal is probably Cardinal Ivan Dias, the head of the Congregation for Evangelisation of Peoples, who is due to participate in the election of the new Pope today. The 76-year-old “prince of the church” cardinal actually lives in the block too.
The revelations come days after Italian newspapers published claims of homosexuality and blackmail within the Church, with one allegation centering around a secret ‘gay cabal’ of priests.
The Vatican has also been hit with further charges of hypocrisy following the resignation of disgraced Scottish cardinal Keith O'Brien.
The 74-year-old Cardinal Keith had been preparing to help choose the next Pope when he admitted that allegations that he made homosexual approaches to young trainee priests were true.
He conceded his ‘sexual conduct’ had ‘fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal’.
The former archbishop will face a Vatican investigation into his behaviour and could be subjected to further punishment if evidence of wrongdoing is found.
His admission left the Roman Catholic church in both England and Scotland in deep crisis over sexual standards and apparent hypocrisy on the part of its most senior priest.
Meanwhile, the Vatican has declined to comment on the proximity of the sauna to the priests' accommodation.
Now, as the College of Cardinals prepares to elect his successor later today, a fresh scandal is out - this time over news that several priests share an apartment block with Europe's largest homosexual sauna.
And the senior Vatican figure sweating the most due to this scandal is probably Cardinal Ivan Dias, the head of the Congregation for Evangelisation of Peoples, who is due to participate in the election of the new Pope today. The 76-year-old “prince of the church” cardinal actually lives in the block too.
The revelations come days after Italian newspapers published claims of homosexuality and blackmail within the Church, with one allegation centering around a secret ‘gay cabal’ of priests.
The Vatican has also been hit with further charges of hypocrisy following the resignation of disgraced Scottish cardinal Keith O'Brien.
The 74-year-old Cardinal Keith had been preparing to help choose the next Pope when he admitted that allegations that he made homosexual approaches to young trainee priests were true.
He conceded his ‘sexual conduct’ had ‘fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal’.
The former archbishop will face a Vatican investigation into his behaviour and could be subjected to further punishment if evidence of wrongdoing is found.
His admission left the Roman Catholic church in both England and Scotland in deep crisis over sexual standards and apparent hypocrisy on the part of its most senior priest.
Meanwhile, the Vatican has declined to comment on the proximity of the sauna to the priests' accommodation.
