Vatican Official Caught Soliciting Sex From Young Man On Hidden Camera, Insists He's Not Gay

Posted by John Aravosis at 5:01 AM on October 15, 2007.

This post, written by John Aravosis, originally appeared on AMERICABlog

How do you say "wide stance" in Italian?

A Vatican official suspended after being caught on hidden camera making advances to a young man said in an interview published Sunday that he is not gay and was only pretending to be gay as part of his work.

In an interview with La Repubblica newspaper, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico said he frequented online gay chat rooms and met with 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."

...

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 television program on gay priests broadcast Oct. 1 on La7, a private Italian television network.

While Stenico's face was blurred in the footage, church officials recognized his Vatican office in the background and suspended him pending a church investigation.

There have long been allegations that there are gays in the Roman Catholic priesthood, but 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.

This entire Craig, Vatican, situation really is starting to sound an awful lot like that incredible Onion piece from a few years back (careful, it's not work-friendly at all, includes sexual language, etc - click here.)

Tagged as: catholic church, homosexuality, child molestation, stenico

John Aravosis is a Washington DC-based writer and political strategist, specializing in using the Internet for political advocacy.