Did Pope Benedict XVI resign because of a gay blackmail scandal?
Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica has published a report alleging that Pope Benedict XVI resigned because of external blackmail involving a faction within the Catholic Church, "united by sexual orientation."
Did Pope Benedict XVI resign because of a gay blackmail scandal?
Mike Bertha
FILE - In this Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008 file photo, a gust of wind blows away Pope Benedict XVI's cap as he delivers his message during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. Benedict announced Monday Feb. 11, 2013 he would resign Feb. 28, the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, File)
Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica has published a report alleging that Pope Benedict XVI resigned because of a blackmail scandal involving a faction within the Catholic Church that is, "united by sexual orientation." Basically, the story is that a bunch of Vatican officials are gay and someone is holding that over the Pope's head. The Guardian breaks down the full report from La Repubblica.
According to La Repubblica, the dossier comprising "two volumes of almost 300 pages – bound in red" had been consigned to a safe in the papal apartments and would be delivered to the pope's successor upon his election.
Additionally, the La Repubblica story contains information on the type of scandalous information contained in the dossier that would have forced the Pope's hand.
It quoted a source "very close to those who wrote [the cardinal's report]" as saying: "Everything revolves around the non-observance of the sixth and seventh commandments."
The seventh enjoins against theft. The sixth forbids adultery, but is linked in Catholic doctrine to the proscribing of homosexual acts.
The Vatican spokesman isn't willing to weigh in on the allegations.
Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said: "Neither the cardinals' commission nor I will make comments to confirm or deny the things that are said about this matter. Let each one assume his or her own responsibilities. We shall not be following up on the observations that are made about this."
The information is reportedly linked to the Vatileaks scandal that saw Pope Benedict XVI's butler arrested under suspicion of having stolen confidential documents and given them to an Italian journalist.
The paper said the pope had taken the decision on 17 December that he was going to resign – the day he received a dossier compiled by three cardinals delegated to look into the so-called "Vatileaks" affair. [The Guardian]
Comments (62)
I heard the Pope resigned because - "I no longer want to deal with a world where Juan Castillo is a defensive Coordinator....".
— ricciaje- As a former catholic it saddens me to see people rip apart the church and lump the bad apples with the good ones. First the church should practice what they preach, were they protecting and moving around the bad ones because of a shortage of priest? Why don't they lift the ban on priest marrying and also allow woman priest and maybe they will get some good people who can understand life and be just as dedicated to their faith, this church is broken and they need to fix it up and the flock should have a strong voice in how their church should be run.— angrywhtguy
- If people aren't aware that seminaries are the spas of the gays, then they are living with their eyes shut.— Bigbirch
- Just because they are gay, doesn't make them priests.— Mr. Smith
- He is in his 80's and has serious health problems, can we leave it alone?— carlosbeltran
- I love right wing religious nuts. when confronted with evidence that challenges their dogmatic beliefs, they choose to attack the messenger rather than to examine their beliefs and accept the reality of the situation. Its a sad sad world. no wonder they have so much trouble gripping the concept of science— Ryan
- If you think only right-wing religious nuts attack messengers with information challenging their established dogma, you don’t understand how science reacts to change. Google Barry Marshall, M.D. and stomach ulcers to see how a research physician had to infect himself with ulcer-causing bacteria to convince the medical community of the validity of his theory of bacteria – not stress or diet -- causing stomach ulcers. Even then, some members of the medical establishment withheld acceptance until Dr. Marshall won the Nobel Prize.
Maybe you have some deviant personal practices which are unapproved by organized religion and you want to win the debate by eliminating the judges.
— Jack Hughes - What are you even talking about?
What evidence? What challenges to what beliefs? Attack what messenger? What science don't Catholics grip?
I swear there are some seriously stupid people in this city. How do you people hold down jobs or make your rent every month? Your post makes absolutely no sense Ryan. You should not post under that name anymore, you are a moron.— mephisto - @daxtremesolja as if it's any different for you...you read and hear what you want....at least those you rail against admit they have no interest in "do as I say not as I do" liberal hypocrisy news that's goes unreported by a completely biased media. Go take a bath and get a haircut you hippie freak!
— imustgoih82bl8 - Your Paper is the most Anti Catholic rag in the Country.When is the story coming out about the hatred of the Nation of Islam,or the Black Israelites who spout Anti semetic and Anti White comments to passerbys in Center City,or now about the New Black Panther Democratic Committeman in Philadelphia,these are all stories you phonies will never print.— suits
- I figured Left wing nut jobs despised organized religion but the venom displayed here was a real eye opener. I support total transparency when it comes to gay scandals however. Regiie Love anybody?— MilesLong1
- Brought to you by the Philadelphia Enquirer.— UncleJoe
- Seems like a reasonable course of action to resign if you are the Pope with a bad ticker and a new bombshell to defuse and dispose.
It seems the Know-Nothing Party has risen from the ashes. Do you children need a time out?
Whoever does the graphics should return to graphics art class and pay attention this time. Of all the zillions of photos of the Pope, the most neutral shot you can find is one with his white beanie flying off head? I am no great fan of the mummery, but you folks now qualify for a journalist award to be named the Pukelitzer from Slumbia University. It gets more and more difficult to accept the mediocrity you have become. We can excuse the naughty children but you're supposed to be the adults.— Jack Hughes - Jack, the intern or scrub who pulled the picture probably didn't even notice the "beenie". Attention to detail went out the window with this "media company" paper long, long ago (yes before this current owner). As I've said many times before....reporters of yesteryear ARE rolling in their graves! — imustgoih82bl8
- correction should read . . . off HIS head. — Jack Hughes
- I am a gay Vaticanian.— albrock
- Until this is proven it is just an irresponsible rumor however if it is shown to be a fact then the pope/hierarchy deserves everything it gets— ABAZZ30
- You don't have to look past the local clubs to find the gay faction of priests.— Boru
- Whoa, there is much too much smoke there to think it is unfounded. And here we thought it was likely a health issue like cancer. Wow.— PhillySubsMac
- This is a rumor, right? I mean calm down philly.com. I wish you were so persistent over an actual event like Benghazi.— Phillies2008WSChamps
- "The vast majority of male pedophilia occurs between males - not between opposite sexes." - Themonkofmagdalena
That's actually the most idiotic statement I've read all day, and I read a lot of idiotic statements. Seriously, 1 in 3 girls will be molested before they turn 18, compare to 1 in 6 boys. Source:
http://www.parentsformeganslaw.org/public/statistics_childSexualAbuse.html— 1972bline - Thank you hannibal, for proving my point....— CiceroSpuriousDeodatusTheSecond
- "The sixth forbids adultery, but is linked in Catholic doctrine to the proscribing of homosexual acts." The complete and utter stupidity of this group of slugs on display again. Just like they can justify not paying taxes when the only thing this guy ever said about the topic was to "give unto Caesar", they can f*qc around, divorce and remarry (oops, sorry, "annul" lol) and claim the commandment is about homosexuality. Hard to believe there are dweebs still following this criminal rabble.— CiceroSpuriousDeodatusTheSecond
- Cicero, you don't know much about Catholic teaching. I suggest you refrain from commenting any longer unless you want to make an even bigger fool of yourself.
And I think you doth protest too much.— mephisto - the Lord smote sodom & gomorrah for their homosexual degeneracy
— hannibal barca - hopefully the whole catholic church implodes. in 100 years, I dream of a world free from the shackles of organized religion. it has been a plague upon humanity and holds us back from using logic and reason to achieve a truly great society. religion must die. we should have evolved past these silly ancient fairy tales centuries ago— Ryan
- Yeah, and Christ told you very plainly:
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
Do you?— mephisto - Are you insane? Judeo-Christian values and morals built The West into the greatest society the world has ever seen. Without it we'd be dirt farmers living in caves somewhere.
Secularism is responsible for more dead than Christianity could imagine. World War I (a secular war) killed more people in 3 years than all the Holy wars combined for the previous 1900 years. Communism (secular) has 100 million kills to its credit.
You can be logical and have faith at the same time. You have neither you dolt.— mephisto - Again, how is this shocking news? The Catholic Church has operated this way for 1500 hundred years. The majority of the Popes had children and mistresses. The organization is just very good at keeping the skeletons firmly locked away in the closet.— Hemingway
- This comment has been deleted.— Santa Satan
- Why haven't we cured cancer today? — mephisto
- speaking of SNL--they did it in the 1990's too, but it was funnier. Phil Hartman played Jesus, and even HE couldn't get an audience with Dick Clark because of Dana Carvey (playing a weaselly receptionist--to perfection, I might add). The Christian church has been hampered in recent decades by their non-understanding of the term "the church militant".— djdekok
- LouDiamondPhillipsheadScrewdriver -- that's exactly what it equates to.
— GeorgiePorgie68 - Stay classy, bigot.
— wokmaster - @GeorgiePorgie68: I can only hope you didn't reproduce.
— LouDiamondPhillipsheadScrewdriver 
Excuse me, VOMIT MAN, I had to go vomit after I read your post. I have a few gay male friends. None of them are pedophiles. I suppose you think ALL priests have sexually abused young boys and ALL Italians are in the Mafia and ALL blacks are criminals. You really need to get with the program!— PattyJo- why am i not surprised that some degenerate homosexuals tried to bring down Pope Benedict and the Church?— hannibal barca
- you losers are seriously worried about an AA pastor with little influence outside of his church vs. a pedophile network of priests who have systematically raped boys and girls for the past 40 years? Sick. Guess even Sandusky needs visitors in prison.— MichaelZoe
- This paper has improved very slightly. However it is still one of the worst rags out there. It is so bias. The owner's of the Inquirer are writing more politically balanced stories on very rare occasions but the OWNERS MUST FIRE THE EDITORS OF THE SERIOUS JOURNLISM AND ESPECIALLY THE LEFT WING NUT JOBS THAT HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED HERE FOR SO LONG & WAY TOO LONG. It would be the key to the growth of the paper. Bring in new blood that has writers from the right, the middle and the left. Right now you have nothing but angry hostile dull left wing incompetents!— Alpha58
Comment removed.- Of course they won't say anything against Mohammed because the Islamic people will track you down butcher your family and then behead you on tape and post on their new TV station they bought from Al Gore. Catholics on the other hand will just send you a nasty letter. — Taxpaying Voter
- "Protect religious freedoms", says Father John Pedophile— Aha_meets_Buckwheat
- I think most of us have had enough of these anti Catholic articles. Also I'll never watch SNL again after that Jesus skit. Where are the Mohammad jokes and skits?— neddyflanders
- I'm Catholic, and I thought the SNL skit was funny. But, that said, I do agree with your Mohammed comment. — uncle meat
I would not be surprised!- This comment has been deleted.— VOMIT MAN!!
- I hope that's just sarcasm, because I don't see how anyone can equate being gay to being a pedophile. — LouDiamondPhillipsheadScrewdriver
- What if 98% of the priests involved in the scandal were gay. Would that change your opinion on anything. Would the press or the public come out raging against the gay community telling them to get their perverts in order. — mephisto
- The vast majority of male pedophilia occurs between males - not between opposite sexes. — Themonkofmagdalena
- I think you meant the vast majority of male homosexuality occurs between consenting adults. — agreed
- Reverse that and "you" could argue the majority of sexual conduct in prison is homosexual. I would argue the majority of homosexual conduct occurs in the same place as heterosexual - in the bedroom.
— agreed - I heard the Pope resigned because, and I quote- "I no longer want to deal with a world where Mike Bertha is considered a 'journalist'....".— andrew69
- The Inquirer has to be dragged kicking & screaming to cover stories damaging to libz (Obama's mentor Jeremiah Wright/Andrew Weiner/Jon Edwards/Menendez), but the ink is barely dry on this story and they run with it ASAP. What a laugh.— teardownthisfishwrap
- Sounds like you'd enjoy a conservative echochamber so that you'd hear/read only what you want to hear/read. Fox News/Drudge/Breitbard perhaps? They do a good job of cherry picking as opposed to reporting any actual objective news.
— daxtremesolja - @dax: I can't speak for the original poster, but my guess is that he/she is referring to a lack of balance between the stories. From an Independent's point of view, it does seem the Inquirer leans to the left. — LouDiamondPhillipsheadScrewdriver
- Good point teardown... What happen to the great mentor, Jeremiah Wright anyway. Didn't he claim Obama paid him to keep his mouth shut???
— dogman5 - You just gotta laugh at dogman and fishwrapper. They would prefer that the Inquirer NOT report anything unless, of course, it reinforces the beliefs of the withering Tea Party. — wokmaster
- This comment has been deleted.— jbandit2116
- Was this a "Family Guy' skit that you're referring to? — Flimbis
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