TeeBe
15th Oct 2007, 04:31 PM
This appeared in my local paper today, as a follow up from an earlier story. Jeez.
Suspended Vatican official insists he was just pretending to be gay
October 15, 2007
The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY
A Vatican official suspended after being caught on hidden camera making advances to a young man says he is not gay and was only pretending to be gay as part of his work.
In an interview published yesterday, Msgr. Tommaso Stenico told La Repubblica daily he frequented online gay chat rooms and met gay men as part of his work as a psychoanalyst. He said that he pretended to be gay in order to gather information about "those who damage the image of the church with homosexual activity.''
Vatican teaching holds that gays and lesbians should be treated with compassion and dignity but homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered.''
The Vatican said Saturday it was suspending Stenico after he was secretly filmed making advances to a young man and asserting that gay sex was not sinful during a program on gay priests broadcast Oct. 1 on La7, a private TV network. His face was blurred, but officials recognized his office and suspended him pending an investigation.
The Stenico case is unusual because he is a relatively high-ranking Vatican official. He heads an office in the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy -- the main office overseeing all the world's priests.
The case comes just two years after the Vatican issued tough new guidelines effectively barring gays from the priesthood -- seen in large part as a response to complaints about a "gay subculture'' in U.S. seminaries.
In the Repubblica interview, Stenico said he had never been gay and was heterosexual, but remained faithful to his vow of celibacy. He said he expected to be fully exonerated after a review.
"It's all false; it was a trap. I was a victim of my own attempts to contribute to cleaning up the church with my psychoanalyst work,'' La Repubblica quoted Stenico as saying.
So...anyone else catch the "cleansing" agenda?? Brutal.
Suspended Vatican official insists he was just pretending to be gay
October 15, 2007
The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY
A Vatican official suspended after being caught on hidden camera making advances to a young man says he is not gay and was only pretending to be gay as part of his work.
In an interview published yesterday, Msgr. Tommaso Stenico told La Repubblica daily he frequented online gay chat rooms and met gay men as part of his work as a psychoanalyst. He said that he pretended to be gay in order to gather information about "those who damage the image of the church with homosexual activity.''
Vatican teaching holds that gays and lesbians should be treated with compassion and dignity but homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered.''
The Vatican said Saturday it was suspending Stenico after he was secretly filmed making advances to a young man and asserting that gay sex was not sinful during a program on gay priests broadcast Oct. 1 on La7, a private TV network. His face was blurred, but officials recognized his office and suspended him pending an investigation.
The Stenico case is unusual because he is a relatively high-ranking Vatican official. He heads an office in the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy -- the main office overseeing all the world's priests.
The case comes just two years after the Vatican issued tough new guidelines effectively barring gays from the priesthood -- seen in large part as a response to complaints about a "gay subculture'' in U.S. seminaries.
In the Repubblica interview, Stenico said he had never been gay and was heterosexual, but remained faithful to his vow of celibacy. He said he expected to be fully exonerated after a review.
"It's all false; it was a trap. I was a victim of my own attempts to contribute to cleaning up the church with my psychoanalyst work,'' La Repubblica quoted Stenico as saying.
So...anyone else catch the "cleansing" agenda?? Brutal.