Did a 'Gay Lobby' Prsure Pope to Rign? | EDGE Uned Stat

Contents:

• POPE FRANCIS SAYS HOMOSEXUALY "IS NOT A CRIME," BUT GAY SEX IS "A S"
• POPE BENEDICT'S RIGNATN LKED TO GAY NCLAVE: REPORT
• REPORT: POPE RIGNED WAKE OF GAY PRIT SNDAL
• POPE BENEDICT XVI RIGNED PARTLY BEE OF POWERFUL VATIN GAY LOBBY, ITALIAN PAPER CLAIMS
• POPE RIGNED OVER GAY PRIT BLACKMAIL AND VATILEAKS? REP IGNOR CLAIMS
• POPE RIGNS 2013: GAY SEX RGS, 'THE FILTH' RPTG THE WHY THE POPE REALLY QU
• PAPAL RIGNATN LKED TO QUIRY TO 'VATIN GAY OFFICIALS', SAYS PAPER
• POPE BENEDICT AND THE VATIN'S 'GAY LOBBY'
• WH POPE RIGNATN, GAY RIGHTS ADVOT HOPE FOR CHANGE

POPE FRANCIS SAYS HOMOSEXUALY "IS NOT A CRIME," BUT GAY SEX IS "A S"

Rome — Pope Francis has lled laws crimalizg homosexualy as fundamentally "unfair, " makg clear that the md of the lear of the Catholic Church, "beg homosexual is not a crime.

POPE BENEDICT'S RIGNATN LKED TO GAY NCLAVE: REPORT

Catholic Church teachg says that gay people mt be weled to the church and treated wh rpect and kdns, spe the fact that homosexual acts are nsired "trsilly disorred. Stat still have laws agast sodomy, spe the Supreme Court clarg them unnstutnal pope said that some bishops om untri that crimalize homosexualy support the laws bee they're part of the lol culture, and he lled on those bishops to unrgo a procs of "nversn, " orr to wele LGBQT people to their mistry "wh tenrns.

Pope Benedict's stunng rignatn is beg lked to a bombshell report exposg a secret gay nclave at the Vatin beg blackmailed over acts of a "worldly nature" wh 300-page dossier — piled by three rdals vtigatg the theft of Vatin documents — was given to the Pope on Dec. 17, the same day he cid to rign, an Italian newspaper reported days after receivg the report, Pope Benedict railed agast gay marriage and homosexualy, llg "the manipulatn of nature. Members of the gay lobby clud high-rankg Catholic clergy who anized sex romps at a Rome sna, a suburban Rome villa and a bety parlor, acrdg to the report.

REPORT: POPE RIGNED WAKE OF GAY PRIT SNDAL

Quotg a high-placed Vatin source, La Repubbli revealed members of the gay factn were beg subjected to "external fluence" or blackmail, om laymen wh whom they had relatnships of a "worldly nature.

"Male prostut — who had pictur of the prits drsed drag and others performg gay sex acts — were behd the extortn, The Daily Beast this photo released by Italian Polizia Morna police magaze staff, an aerial view of the St. (Polizia Morna/AP)"Everythg revolv around the nonobservance of the Sixth and Seventh Commandments, " a source close to the rdals who prepared the report told La Sixth Commandment stcts: "Thou shall not m adultery" and unr Catholic doctre also forbids homosexualy.

POPE BENEDICT XVI RIGNED PARTLY BEE OF POWERFUL VATIN GAY LOBBY, ITALIAN PAPER CLAIMS

Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops some parts of the world support laws that crimalize homosexualy or discrimate agast the LGBTQ muny, and he himself referred to homosexualy terms of “s.

4 of 4 | FILE - Italian Arcigay gay rights associatn activists hold banners and flags durg a monstratn ont of The Vatin, this Tuday, Jan. 24, 2023, Pope Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops some parts of the world support laws that crimalize homosexualy or discrimate agast the LGBTQ muny, and he himself referred to homosexualy terms of “s. 4 of 4FILE - Italian Arcigay gay rights associatn activists hold banners and flags durg a monstratn ont of The Vatin, this Tuday, Jan.

POPE RIGNED OVER GAY PRIT BLACKMAIL AND VATILEAKS? REP IGNOR CLAIMS

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has clarified his recent ments about homosexualy and s, sayg he was merely referrg to official Catholic moral teachg that teach that any sexual act outsi of marriage is a a note Friday, Francis relled that even that black-and-whe teachg is subject to circumstanc that might elimate the s altogether. 24 wh The Associated Prs, which he clared that laws crimalizg homosexualy were “unjt” and that “beg homosexual is not a crime. As he often do, Francis then imaged a nversatn wh someone who raised the matter of the church’s official teachg, which stat that homosexual acts are sful, or “trsilly disorred.

His ments llg for the crimalizatn of homosexualy were hailed by LGBTQ advot as a tone that would help end harassment and vlence agast LGBTQ persons. -based Outreach mistry for LGBTQ Catholics, asked Francis for clarifitn and prted the pope’s handwrten rponse on the Outreach webse late his note, Francis reaffirmed that homosexualy “is not a crime, ” and said he spoke out “ orr to strs that crimalizatn is neher good nor jt. 28The Vatin will not ment on the reports of the rdals%27 vtigatnThe Italian media is reportg that Pope Benedict XVI rigned after receivg the rults of an ternal vtigatn, livered a 300-page, two-volume dossier, that laid bare a sordid tale of blackmail, rptn and gay sex at the rpected Italian newspaper La Repubbli reported Friday that the report stamped "Pontifil Secret, " ntaed "an exact map of the mischief and the bad fish" si the Holy newspaper said the fdgs of the ne-month vtigatn, head by Spanish rdal, Julian Herranz, wh the assistance of Cardal Salvatore De Grgi, former archbishop of Palermo, and Slovak rdal Jozef Tomko, was livered to the pope on Dec.

The butler was nvicted October of aggravated theft, and later three-man panel, acrdg to La Repubbli, disvered an unrground gay work whose members anized sexual meetgs several lotns, cludg a villa outsi Rome, a sna Rome's Cuarto Miligo distirct and even a bety salon si the gathergs, turn, left them open to blackmail om people outsi the Vatin, the report said, acrdg to the Repubbli quoted an unintified man scribed as ''very close'' to the thors of the dossier as sayg ntaed rmatn about vlatns of the sixth and seventh mandments, which forbid adultery and Brish newspaper, The Guardian, not that the sixth mandment also "is lked Catholic doctre to the proscribg of homosexual acts. Webse, The Daily Beast, reports that vtigative journalist Carmello Abbate went unrver wh a hidn mera 2010 Rome to produce an expose lled Good Nights Out for Gay sndal has epted as the pope is clearg the cks of his pontifite, tweakg the l of the nclave, fsg the relig r ed to lnch the next papacy and makg some eyebrow-raisg fal appotments before he retir next Vatin newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said edns published late Friday that Benedict had signed a cree earlier the week makg some chang to the papal stallatn Mass, separatg out the actual re of stallatn om the lurgy is also studyg the text of a separate document erng the l of the nclave, though 's not known if will addrs the thorny issue of whether the electn n beg earlier than March 15, by some terpretatns the earlit the vote n start unr the current on Friday, the Vatin announced Benedict had transferred a top official the secretariat of state, Monsignor Ettore Baltrero, to of the documents leaked the midst of the "Vatileaks" sndal ncerned differenc of opn about the level of fancial transparency the Holy See should provi about the bank, the Instute for Relig Works. On Thursday, the popular paper published an article allegg that Pope Benedict XVI's cisn to rign this month was partly prompted by a report that acced Vatin officials of beg unr the fluence of several ternal lobbi, reportedly cludg a gay Irish Tim reports that Benedict missned the report after the Vatileaks sndal broke last year.

POPE RIGNS 2013: GAY SEX RGS, 'THE FILTH' RPTG THE WHY THE POPE REALLY QU

" The paper also claims the report tails rmatn about sexual meetgs anized by members of a gay unrground work, who got together venu across Rome and Vatin Cy. In 2010, the newspaper revealed wiretaps and police documents that showed a Vatin chorister and an ele papal her had been volved wh a gay prostut rg.

Gay prits had been workg at the Vatin for s, and mountg prsure reportedly forced the Pope to shockg report, published by Italian paper La Repubbli, has yet to be nfirmed or nied by a Vatin spokman. In a statement released to Italian news media the 85-year-old partg pontiff says he is relieved to be g out after eight s the closet and urged the Catholic Church and other fahs to accept homosexualy as a natural part of God's creatn.

Yet mors have been swirlg Rome sce the announcement that the cisn stead had somethg to do wh homosexualy at the Church's hight levels.

PAPAL RIGNATN LKED TO QUIRY TO 'VATIN GAY OFFICIALS', SAYS PAPER

There have been newspaper reports of a secret "gay nclave" wh the Vatin that vised lol prostut and was thereafter blackmailed. It had been anticipated that he would ntue on as a "Pope Emer, " but given the Church's ban on homosexualy his future role is now unclear.

"Look everyone knows that the only people who sign up for a lifetime of livg all-male dormori wh no possibily of marriage are gay men, " says Phyllis Gat, a nservative Catholic blogger. While Santom is lookg for evince of a gay nspiracy, however, LGBT activists are celebratg the Pope's pro-gay rights msage. Gay Catholic blogger Andrew Sullivan, who speculated yterday about a homosexual relatnship between Pope Benedict and his personal ai, was phlegmatic towards the news.

Often seen as remote, s learship is now nvassg the views of ordary Catholics on hot-button issu such as ntraceptn and gay marriage. Benedict’s favoured ndidate would likely brg a puranil prsure to bear on sexually active Catholics livg together outsi of marriage, or g ntraceptn, or gay g nclave is set to be the most ntent for centuri. A potentially explosive report has lked the rignatn of Pope Benedict XVI to the disvery of a work of gay prelat the Vatin, some of whom – the report said – were beg blackmailed by pope's spokman cled to nfirm or ny the report, which was rried by the Italian daily newspaper La paper said the pope had taken the cisn on 17 December that he was gog to rign – the day he received a dossier piled by three rdals legated to look to the so-lled "Vatileaks" May Pope Benedict's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrted and charged wh havg stolen and leaked papal rrponnce that picted the Vatin as a seethg hotbed of trigue and fightg.

POPE BENEDICT AND THE VATIN'S 'GAY LOBBY'

The sixth forbids adultery, but is lked Catholic doctre to the proscribg of homosexual Repubbli said the rdals' report intified a seri of meetg plac and around Rome. Sce announcg his parture he has twice apparently referred to machatns si the Vatin, sayg that divisns "mar the face of the church", and warned agast "the temptatns of power" Repubbli's report was the latt a strg of claims that a gay work exists the Vatin.

A few months later a weekly news magaze ed hidn meras to rerd prits visg gay clubs and bars and havg Vatin do not nmn homosexuals.

WH POPE RIGNATN, GAY RIGHTS ADVOT HOPE FOR CHANGE

The news that the UK's most senr Catholic cleric, the anti-gay Cardal Keh O'Brien, has rigned over allegatns of unwanted sexual advanc on prits, bed wh last week's reports of a secret gay bal wh the Vatin that supposedly phed Pope Benedict to rign, is explosive.

The stunng news certaly bolsters the argument that the Catholic Church is crisis and that the pope's rignatn is reflective of that fact, but 's important to separate the sensatnalism this rapidly velopg story, not to mentn the anti-gay bias, om the facts and the probabili. First off, the ia that an all-powerful "gay lobby" forced Pope Benedict to rign, as some of the ternatnal media reports have suated, is pretty ludicro. If there really were such an fluential gay bal, you'd better believe that Cardal Joseph Ratzger would not have bee pope the first place, nor would the Vatin be such a reposory of blood-curdlg would not be surprisg if there were some tth to the report the Italian newspaper La Repubbli that three Vatin rdals nducted an vtigatn focg on the existence of many gay men the Vatin and produced a report on their fdgs.