The Vatin creed Monday that the Catholic Church nnot bls same-sex unns sce God "nnot bls s," while upholdg the church's welg and blsg of gay people.
Contents:
VATIN CHANG DRAFT REPORT TRANSLATN ABOUT WELG GAYS
* gay in the vatican *
Early his salac new book about homosexualy the Vatin, the French journalist Freric Martel asks a source to timate the number of Vatin clergy who are “part of this muny, all tennci clud. “I thk the percentage is very high, ” says the source, intified as an Italian journalist who left the Vatin and the prithood after he was disvered viewg gay sex webs on his Vatin puter. While there has been no shortage of sexual sndals the Catholic Church, mostly ncerng the abe of children, there are no reliable studi on the number of gay Catholics the prithood, mostly bee church lears won’t allow them.
This secret unrworld munit d msag: In Vatin parlance, he wr, to be gay is “to be part of the parish, ” an entendre that blends the sexual and sacred. But is unclear how Martel, who says he is sympathetic to gay clergy, supports many of his more sweepg and damng asssments. At tim, he reli ls on tradnal journalistic methods like on-the-rerd nversatns and documents than on his self-scribed “gaydar” and y suatns ma by secret sourc.
But already Catholics have exprsed ncern that Martel’s book, which ntas some shockg but unverified allegatns, will not only overshadow the church’s attempts to protect children, but also sentially lk gay sndals wh the clergy abe crisis. “It will distract om the summ and raise people’s mds the ia that all gay prits are breakg their vows and are lked to abe, ” said Mart, who said he has read excerpts of the book. “The ‘culture of secrecy, ’ which was necsary to mata silence about the huge prence of homosexualy the church, has ma possible to hi sexual abe, and for predators to benef om this system of protectn wh the stutn, ” he wr.
THE GAY CHURCH
Ironilly, Martel’s argument fds mon e wh Amerin nservativ, who have argued for years that the real roots of the clergy abe crisis lie not pedophilia but homosexualy.
That charge was ma most famoly by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the Vatin’s former US ambassador, who acced the Pope a letter last year of turng a bld eye to the “homosexual works” rponsible for stroyg the church om the si.
And while the thor has some genuely sharp sights about the distance between the Catholic Church’s public and private stanc on homosexualy, they are too often buried beneath tty quot and unverifiable anecdot. At one pot the book, Martel asks himself why one rdal agreed to talk to him, spe his reputatn as a journalist terted gay culture.