Catholic priests 'filmed at gay clubs and having casual sex'

[babsbunny]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/7907881/Catholic-priests-filmed-at-gay-clubs-and-having-casual-sex.html

The Catholic Church in Italy was embroiled in a fresh scandal on Friday when photographs apparently showing homosexual priests attending gay nightclubs and engaging in casual sex were published in a magazine.

A journalist from Panorama, a conservative weekly news magazine owned by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, used a hidden camera to film interviews with three gay priests, who introduced the journalist to the gay clubs they apparently frequent, and allowed the journalist to film their sexual encounters with strangers, including one in a church building.

One of the priests, a Frenchman identified only as Paul, celebrated Mass in the morning before driving the two escorts he had hired to attend a party the night before to the airport, Panorama said.

[teenagebambam]

1. At least everyone involved was an adult.

[valerief]

2. OMG, a gay priest! What next?

:sarcasm:

[Rob H.]

3. From the same article:

The Catholic Church in Italy, still reeling from the paedophile priest scandal, responded on Friday by ordering homosexual priests who are leading a double life to come out of the closet and leave the priesthood.

I wonder if the Church sees the hypocrisy in that. "You're a priest and you're gay? Get out! Get out now! You're a priest and you're a pedophile? Um, let's just get you transferred somewhere else as quickly and quietly as possible...."

[pnwmom]

5. They're asking non-celibates to leave the priesthood. Straight priests leave

for the same reason.

[Rob H.]

11. Then why didn't they kick out the pedophiles

instead of just transferring them to other parishes? After all, they weren't celibate, either.

[snagglepuss]

12. Bingo. That's the million $ question.

[pnwmom]

13. There's absolutely no excuse for that. n/t

[izquierdista]

4. Would "formal sex" have been better?

I'm having trouble finding the outrage. Is this an indictment of our increasingly casual dress style? Would it have been better if they were dropping Brooks Brothers trousers instead of some cargo shorts from The Gap?

[pnwmom]

6. The issue is that they're publicly breaking the celibacy vows they took, and that

apply to all priests, straight or gay. If they have a problem with the vows, the Church is saying, they should ask to be released from them.

If straight priests had behaved in the same way, they'd face the same criticism. So the issue is celibacy vows, not the orientation of the priests.

[RetroLounge]

7. and priests screwing little boys were celibate?

But then again, they were all asked to leave the priesthood, right?

:eyes:

RL

[The Magistrate]

8. Exactly, Sir

[chollybocker]

9. Thank you.

Apologists make me ill.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pnwmom]

14. They should all have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law

and those who were guilty should have been defrocked.

There's no excuse for the Church's recalcitrance.

But that has nothing to do with the fact that this "scandal" would be the same if the priest were allowing the journalist to observe him hanging out in bars and having sex with women.