Rome, Italy, Jul 23, 2010 / (CNA).-
After an Italian media report exposed sexual activity by gay priests in Rome, the Vicariate of Rome responded quickly by calling on all priests who are leading such "double lives" to come out and leave the priesthood for the good of the Church community.
The Italian weekly magazine Panorama ran a feature story on Friday morning titled, "The wild nights of gay priests." The article tracks three supposed priests, monitoring their behavior in gay nightclubs and soliciting them for sexual encounters by way of male prostitutes hired by the magazine.
The author, Carmelo Abbate, claims to have everything on tape, including the sexual acts and the same priests celebrating Mass. Panorama, considered a socialist magazine, has set up priests before using false requests for the Sacrament of Confession to "poll" what they teach on moral or political issues and then publish the results.
In response to Friday's story, the Vicariate of Rome, the office which assists the Pope in running the Diocese of Rome, released a message stating that "the purpose of the article is obvious: to create scandal, defame all priests ... discredit the church and - in another way - put pressure on that part of the Church defined by them as 'intransigent, that strives not to face the reality' of homosexual priests."
Not denying the information in the article, the vicariate said that the Church community cannot help but feel "sorrow and dismay" at seeing the report, knowing its priests intimately "not by their 'double lives,' but with a 'single life,' happy and joyful, consistent with their vocation, given to God and the service of the people, committed to living and witnessing to the Gospel and model of morality for all."
Because the Panorama article painted the 1,300 priests of the Diocese of Rome using gross generalizations, the vicariate replied that the essence of the Church of Rome is not found in those with "'double lives,' who haven't understood what 'Catholic priesthood' (is) and should not have become priests."
"Know," the statement continued, "that no one forces them to remain priests, exploiting only the benefits."
"Coherence would require them to come into the open. We don't wish to hurt them, but we cannot accept that due to their behavior the integrity of the all the rest might be tarnished."
"Before such facts," the vicariate asserted, "we firmly adhere to what the Holy Father Benedict XVI has repeated several times in recent months: 'the sins of priests' call us all back to conversion of heart and life and to be vigilant so as not to 'pollute the faith and Christian life, damaging the integrity of the Church, weakening her capacity of prophecy and testimony, tarnishing the beauty of her face'."
zaterdag 24 juli 2010
After exposé, Vicariate of Rome asks clergy leading 'double lives' to leave priesthood
Benedict XVI working on third and final volume of ‘Jesus of Nazareth’
Vatican City, Jul 23, 2010 / (CNA/EWTN News).-
Pope Benedict XVI's vacation time is now being dedicated to writing the third volume in what could safely be called the "Jesus of Nazareth" series. The new work will seek to shed light on the story of Jesus' childhood from the Gospels.
Fr. Federico Lombardi "broke" the official news in his weekly "Octava dies" editorial program for Vatican television although news had already spread that the Holy Father was working on an addition to the first two books. Some Italian journalists had reported that it would be a book, others a mere appendix to the previous two volumes. Fr. Lombardi referred to it as a "volume."
Following a first book on Jesus' public ministry and a second on the Passion and Resurrection, the Vatican spokesman said that "Benedict XVI has now laid his hands on the third and final part, dedicated to the 'Gospels of childhood'."
It will concentrate on the accounts of Jesus' early life from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
Fr. Lombardi also said that the second book of the "Jesus of Nazareth" series is now being translated and is expected to be released in Spring 2011.
On the significance of the Pope's work on the new volume, Fr. Lombardi pointed out, "It's clear ... how close it is to his heart to bring this great design started years ago to a close."
The Vatican spokesman recalled the "crucial importance" given to the first volume during the bishops' synod in Oct. 2008 on the "Word of God," when various speakers referred to it as "a model of theological and spiritual reading of the Gospels" and "a guide for believers to find - through the Gospels - the person of Jesus."
Fr. Lombardi hoped for a similar the result of the third volume, exclaiming, "Take us to meet Jesus!"
He concluded by noting that through the Pope’s dedication to the Church and the faithful, even during his "holidays," we can see that we are "at the heart" of his service.
According to Fr. Lombardi, during the first two weeks of his summer vacation, the Pope also revisited one of the volumes of his "Opera omnia," the collection of his life works which have begun to be published in German and Italian.
