| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
FEB 22, 2013 | 8:01 PM
A bombshell report revealed Pope Benedict’s resignation is tied to top Vatican clergy involved in sex romps with male prostitutes at Rome saunas.
Pope Benedict's stunning resignation is being linked to a bombshell report exposing a secret gay conclave at the Vatican being blackmailed over acts of a "worldly nature" with laymen.
The 300-page dossier — compiled by three cardinals investigating the theft of Vatican documents — was given to the Pope on Dec. 17, the same day he decided to resign, an Italian newspaper reported Friday.
Just days after receiving the report, Pope Benedict railed against gay marriage and homosexuality, calling it "the manipulation of nature."
The probe uncovered a number of factions within the Vatican, including one whose members were "united by sexual orientation," La Repubblica reported, citing passages from the report.
Members of the gay lobby included high-ranking Catholic clergy who organized sex romps at a Rome sauna, a suburban Rome villa and a beauty parlor, according to the report. The group was also known to meet at a university residence used by an Italian archbishop.
Quoting a high-placed Vatican source, La Repubblica revealed members of the gay faction were being subjected to "external influence" or blackmail, from laymen with whom they had relationships of a "worldly nature."
Male prostitutes — who had pictures of the priests dressed in drag and others performing gay sex acts — were behind the extortion, The Daily Beast reported.
"Everything revolves around the nonobservance of the Sixth and Seventh Commandments," a source close to the cardinals who prepared the report told La Repubblica.
The Sixth Commandment instructs: "Thou shall not commit adultery" and under Catholic doctrine also forbids homosexuality. The Seventh Commandment declares stealing to be a sin.
The report, which comes in two volumes bound in red covers, is being kept in a safe at the papal apartments. It is to be delivered to the next Pope once he is elected.
It was prepared by Spanish Cardinal Julián Herranz, Slovak Cardinal Jozef Tomko and Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, a former archbishop of Palermo.
The sleuthing cardinals were ordered by Pope Benedict to conduct a secret investigation into the so-called "Vatileaks" scandal involving the pontiff's former butler, Paolo Gabriele.
Gabriele was arrested in May for stealing and leaking papal correspondence to the press.
Journalist David Gibson, who wrote the latest biography on Pope Benedict, said the Pope's resignation was likely due to numerous factors, mainly revolving around the internal problems of the Vatican, of which sexual shenanigans were likely one.
Benedict, 85, publicly announced on Feb. 11 that he is stepping down after heading the Holy See for nearly eight years. He is the first Pope to retire in more than seven centuries.
Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said he would not "confirm or deny" news accounts of the report.
The Pope's last day on the job is Feb. 28. His successor will be chosen in March by the 116-member College of Cardinals — which includes Timothy Cardinal Dolan, head of the New York Archdiocese.
"I know nothing of the content of the report but whatever it contains it is clear that significant reforms are needed within the Vatican bureaucracy," said Australia's George Cardinal Pell.
Journalist David Gibson, who wrote the latest biography on Pope Benedict, said it is a stretch to infer the pontiff's resignation was prompted by the cardinals' report. "For one thing, Benedict's resignation was most certainly the result of numerous factors, mainly revolving around the internal problems of the Vatican, of which sexual shenanigans were likely one — but hardly the only one, or even the principal one," Gibson wrote in his online blog.
Members of the gay lobby included high-ranking Catholic clergy who organized sex romps at a Rome sauna, a suburban Rome villa and a beauty parlor, according to the report. The group was also known to meet at a university residence used by an Italian archbishop.
Quoting a high-placed Vatican source, La Repubblica revealed members of the gay faction were being subjected to "external influence" or blackmail, from laymen with whom they had relationships of a "worldly nature."
Male prostitutes — who had pictures of the priests dressed in drag and others performing gay sex acts — were behind the extortion, The Daily Beast reported.
"Everything revolves around the nonobservance of the Sixth and Seventh Commandments," a source close to the cardinals who prepared the report told La Repubblica.
The Sixth Commandment instructs: "Thou shall not commit adultery" and under Catholic doctrine also forbids homosexuality. The Seventh Commandment declares stealing to be a sin.
The report, which comes in two volumes bound in red covers, is being kept in a safe at the papal apartments. It is to be delivered to the next Pope once he is elected.
It was prepared by Spanish Cardinal Julián Herranz, Slovak Cardinal Jozef Tomko and Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, a former archbishop of Palermo.
The sleuthing cardinals were ordered by Pope Benedict to conduct a secret investigation into the so-called "Vatileaks" scandal involving the pontiff's former butler, Paolo Gabriele.
Gabriele was arrested in May for stealing and leaking papal correspondence to the press.
Journalist David Gibson, who wrote the latest biography on Pope Benedict, said the Pope's resignation was likely due to numerous factors, mainly revolving around the internal problems of the Vatican, of which sexual shenanigans were likely one.
Benedict, 85, publicly announced on Feb. 11 that he is stepping down after heading the Holy See for nearly eight years. He is the first Pope to retire in more than seven centuries.
Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said he would not "confirm or deny" news accounts of the report.
The Pope's last day on the job is Feb. 28. His successor will be chosen in March by the 116-member College of Cardinals — which includes Timothy Cardinal Dolan, head of the New York Archdiocese.
"I know nothing of the content of the report but whatever it contains it is clear that significant reforms are needed within the Vatican bureaucracy," said Australia's George Cardinal Pell.
Journalist David Gibson, who wrote the latest biography on Pope Benedict, said it is a stretch to infer the pontiff's resignation was prompted by the cardinals' report. "For one thing, Benedict's resignation was most certainly the result of numerous factors, mainly revolving around the internal problems of the Vatican, of which sexual shenanigans were likely one — but hardly the only one, or even the principal one," Gibson wrote in his online blog.
P.S. In his 2016 book Last Testament (New York: Bloomsbury), Pope Benedict had this to say about the gay lobby in the Vatican.
"A group had been pointed out to me, in fact, which we have since dismantled. That was even revealed in the report of the tripartite commission (so called because it was supervised by three cardinals) that was able to link a group of individuals, a small one, maybe four or five people, which we dismantled. Whether something forms again, I do not know. It would not be teeming with such things anyway." 230.