The pre-conclave climate in Rome touched fever point yesterday following sensational Italian media claims that Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation was at least partly prompted by the “inappropriate influence” of various lobbies, including a gay lobby, in internal Holy See affairs.
Weekly news magazine Panorama and Rome newspaper La Repubblica claimed that the pope had been bitterly dismayed on December 17th last year by an internal report into the so-called “Vatileaks” scandal. The report, commissioned by the pontiff last April and prepared by Cardinals Julián Herranz, Jozef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi, apparently confirmed the widespread media portrayal of a Holy See riven with rivalries and careerism.
Furthermore, the cardinals’ report claimed that various lobbies within the Holy See were consistently breaking the sixth and seventh commandments, namely “thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt not commit adultery”. The “stealing” was in particular related to the Vatican Bank, IOR, while the sexual offences were related to the influence of an active gay lobby within the Vatican.
The cardinals’ 300-page report represented the last straw for the pope, hardening his long-meditated intention to resign, according to the media. The Vatileaks scandal itself culminated with the arrest and subsequent conviction last year of the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, who was found guilty of having stolen confidential documents from the papal apartment.
La Repubblica also claims that the report speaks of inappropriate influence on the part of various lobbies, some of them of a “worldly nature”, reflecting an “outside influence”. It reminded readers about Angelo Balducci, who was accused three years ago of being a member of a gay ring, active within the Vatican and involving choristers and seminarians.