OPINION:
The pope is said to be “enraged” after learning an apartment belonging to an aide of one of his key advisers was used as a party place for the gay sex, druggie crowd.
I should say so.
Gay sex is generally frowned upon by the Catholic Church — and using the excuse of being high on illegal drugs is hardly a sound defense.
What’s worse — or funny, depending on the darkness of one’s sense of humor — is that the apartment, currently inhabited by the secretary to Francesco Cardinal Coccopalmerio, is technically owned-slashed-leased by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the Vatican’s special anti-clerical sex abuse watchdog agency.
Cheap shots, anyone? Line forms on the left.
But perhaps it’s all a misunderstanding.
Perhaps the drug-fueled gay-sex parties were part of Doctrine of Faith undercover research operations?
You, in the back of the room — stop that giggling.
“Cops raided the apartment in late June after neighbors voiced concern about multiple people acting strangely while streaming in and out of the residence,” the New York Post reported, citing the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Police busted the place, finding multiple men in the middle of homosexual behavior, taking illegal drugs — leading, of course, to that age-old question: Which came first, the gay sex or the drugs?
Oh, but the story’s not ended. A priest was arrested — the priest who serves as the aide to one of Pope Francis’ key advisers. And this priest was sent to a drug clinic to detox.
It’s enough to make an atheist want to turn religious.
The apartment building was described by the local newspaper as “a perfect location to enjoy the extraterritorial rights [of the Vatican] without having to undergo neither the checks of the Italian State nor those of the Vatican City.”
And the pope’s response?
Aside from being “enraged,” he’s apparently speeding up Coccopalmerio’s retirement from the presidency of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.
The whole scandal comes just a week after another Vatican-tied scandal. It was just a few days ago a high-ranking church official, George Cardinal Pell, was charged by Australian police with several counts of sexual assault.
Pell served as the pope’s leading financial adviser. But now? His reputation is this: The highest ranking Vatican official to be charged in a Catholic Church sex scandal.
Hmm. Something tells me more are coming — that more Vatican-tied scandals are soon to break.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.