Vatican Sex Sting

[StarryEyedLad]

Link to the article:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/56555/%3E

Excerpt:
Vatican Sex Sting
An after-hours office meeting between a young man and a top Roman Catholic official has prompted a fresh inquiry into gay priests. What the investigation could mean for the Holy See.

By Edward Pentin | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Oct 18, 2007 | Updated: 10:06 a.m. ET Oct 18, 2007

It's another story the Vatican could have done without. A high-ranking church official in Rome is caught by a hidden camera making what appear to be advances to another man. The scenes, in which the priest questions the Roman Catholic church's teaching on homosexuality, are then broadcast on Italian television.

That's the position the Vatican, still trying to deal with the long-running fallout from pedophile priests, finds itself in after the official, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico—who has responsibility for matters relating to the clergy—was filmed during an encounter with a youth he was reported to have met on a gay Internet chat room.

The priest invited the young man to his office after work hours and, during the course of their conversation on homosexuality, started complimenting the youth on his appearance. The young man told the priest he was "about to commit something with me that is a sin in the eyes of God." Stenico, 60, replied: "No, I don't consider it a sin." When the youth questioned how the priest could ignore the church's teaching that homosexual acts are sinful, the priest cut short the meeting and showed him the door—but not before placing his hand on the back of his leg and saying, "You're so hot." The priest asked his guest not to talk with anyone on the way out.

Although the pictures and voices were heavily disguised by the program makers, who filmed it as part of an investigation into gay Catholic priests, Vatican officials recognised the office, confronted the priest, and promptly suspended him. Stenico has since denied he is gay and has claimed he was only pretending in order to gather information about people he believes are involved in a Satanic plot to discredit the church by seducing priests into homosexuality. "It was nothing more than an experiment," he said, "a study about the theme, and I have fallen in the trap, but I will explain it to my superiors."

Stenico will be given the chance to do that when he appears in front of a Vatican disciplinary tribunal, but his story is unlikely to convince a sceptical public. If he was indeed acting undercover, his superiors probably would have known about it. It's also unlikely he would have been authorised to act in such an underhanded way. "It's hugely embarrassing and outrageous," said one official, who cannot be named owing to the sensitivity of the issue.

The case has raised questions about the extent of homosexuality in the Vatican. Those who dismiss Stenico's explanation believe the priest may be part of a small "underground" gay community of Vatican officials. Some officials readily admit such a community exists, but according to one, "it's not a formal network through which they are able to protect themselves." Others have long regarded Rome as a haven for gay priests, sent to the Vatican because they would not survive in a parish. "Rome's famous for it," said one parish priest in Italy who asked not to be named. "They've got to go somewhere, and so are given something innocuous to do in Rome." For some, that perception was underscored last year, when a senior ranking monsignor was involved in a high-speed police chase after being pulled over in a Rome district known for male prostitution.

[Buzzardhut]

It's getting even more serious over there :fear

[fishersofmen]

:blah

[cbressler1976]

people are sick EVERYWHERE!! ....teachers...priests...police officers...neighbors....pastors.....I don't think that it's something new....
I think it's just that people are talking about it now...BUT I do believe that it seems that there are MORE people doing it..... people just don't know right from wrong....or they just don't care...

[CHRISTinCheryl]

Men should NEVER be forbidden to marry, says the Bible..:scripture

[RaptureReadyGirl82]

Disgusting. And I agree with CHRISTinCheryl. Men should never be forbidden to marry.

[juan53]

I was born into a Catholic family. I can't, will not go into a Catholic church. They pray more to Mary than Jesus.

I wish a lot of Catholic's would wake up.

what about this:

The Inquisition is broadly used in reference to the judgment of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church. It can mean an ecclesiastical tribunal or institution of the Roman Catholic Church for combating or suppressing heresy, a number of historical expurgation movements against heresy (orchestrated by the Roman Catholic Church) or the trial of an individual accused of heresy. Here Three of them, Medieval Inquisition, Episcopal Inquisition (1184-1230s) and the Papal Inquisition (1230s).
The Church Answer.
The Catholic Church say: Currently in North America, more babies die from abortion in 2 days than the total number of people who died during centuries of Inquisitions
So that make it OK!!! Yes America is wrong, but America is not a church

How many people were killed in the Inquisition?
There were two major Inquisitions, the Medieval Inquisition and Spanish Inquisition. Although there are no exact numbers, scholars believe they have estimated Inquisition deaths reasonably accurately. There were not as many deaths as the popular press claims. Numbers have often been inflated to as high as 9 million by the popular press, with absolutely no scholarly research. This figure is completely erroneous. A broad range of scholars, many of whom were not Catholic, have carefully studied the Inquisitions. They looked at all the existing records and were able to extrapolate. In the Medieval Inquisition, Bernard Gui was one of the most notorious of the medieval inquisitors. (so much so that the sick modern pornography industry has turned him into a hero). He tried 930 people out of which 42 were executed (4.5%). Another famous Inquisitor was Jacques Fournier who tried 114 cases of which 5 were executed (4.3%). Using numbers that are known, scholars have been able to surmise that approximately 2,000 people died in the Medieval Inquisition. (1231-1400 AD)
According to public news reports the book's editor, Prof. Agostino Borromeo, stated that about 125,000 persons were investigated by the Spanish Inquisition, of which 1.8% were executed (2,250 people). Most of these deaths occurred in the first decade and a half of the Inquisition's 350 year history. In Portugal of the 13,000 tried in the 16th and early 17th century 5.7% were said to have been condemned to death. News articles did not report if Portugal's higher percentage included those sentenced to death in effigy (i.e. an image burnt instead of the actual person). For example, historian Gustav Henningsen reported that statistical tabulations of 50,000 recorded cases tried by nineteen Spanish tribunals between 1540-1700 found 775 people (1.7%) were actually executed while another 700 (1.4%) were sentenced to death in effigy ("El 'banco de datos' del Santo Oficio: Las relaciones de causas de la Inquisición española, 1550-1700", BRAH, 174, 1977). Jewish historian Steven Katz remarked on the Medieval Inquisition that "in its entirety, the thirteenth and fourteenth century Inquisition put very few people to death and sent few people to prison; 90 percent of its sentences were canonical penances" (The Holocaust in Historical Context, 1994).
During the high point of the Spanish Inquisition from 1478-1530 AD, scholars found that approximately 1,500-2,000 people were found guilty. From that point forward, there are exact records available of all "guilty" sentences which amounted to 775 executions. In the full 200 years of the Spanish Inquisition, less than 1% of the population had any contact with it, people outside of the major cities didn't even know about it. The Inquisition was not applied to Jews or Moslems, unless they were baptised as Christians
That could mean that over 2 million people were jailed, Tortured and but they say ONLY 1% of them were killed.
Inquisition procedure
The papal inquisition developed a number of procedures to discover and prosecute heretics.
[edit] Investigation
When a papal inquisition arrived at a town it had a set of procedures and rules to identify likely heretics. First, the townspeople would be gathered in a public place. Although attendance was voluntary, those who failed to show would automatically be suspect, so most would come. The inquisitors would provide an opportunity for anyone to step forward and denounce themselves in exchange for easy punishment. As part of this bargain they would need to inform on other heretics. In addition, the inquisitors could simply force people to be interrogated. Once information had been gathered, an inquisitorial trial could begin.
[edit] Trial
The inquisitorial trial generally favored the prosecution (the Church). The accused was expected to self-incriminate and did not have the right to face and question the accuser. It was acceptable to take testimony from criminals, persons of bad reputation, excommunicated people, and convicted heretics. Blood relationship did not exempt one from the duty to testify against the accused. The inquisitor could keep a defendant in prison for years before the trial to obtain new information.
Despite the seeming unfairness of the procedures, the inquisitors did provide some rights to the defendant. At the beginning of the trial, defendants were invited to name those who had "mortal hatred" against them. If the accusers were among those named, the defendant was set free and the charges dismissed; the accusers would face life imprisonment. This option was meant to keep the inquisition from becoming involved in local grudges. A confession under torture was not admissible in court, although the inquisitor could threaten the accused with torture during the proceedings.
[edit] Torture
Torture was used after 1252. On May 15, Pope Innocent IV issued a papal bull entitled Ad exstirpanda, which authorized the use of torture by inquisitors. It was a common part of the medieval judicial system and not particular to the inquisition. The torture methods used by inquisitors were mild compared to secular courts, as they were forbidden to use methods that resulted in bloodshed, mutilation or death. Also, torture could be performed only once. However, it was common practice to consider a second torture session to be a "continuation" of the first.
[edit] Punishment
Among the possible punishments were a long pilgrimage for first offenders, wearing a yellow cross for life, confiscation of property, banishment, public recantation, or long-term imprisonment. Burning at the stake was only for the most serious cases, including repeat offenders and unrepentant heretics. Execution was done not by the Church, which was forbidden to kill, but by secular officials. The accused could have all of his property confiscated, and in many cases, accusers may have been motivated by a desire to take the property of the accused.
The inquisitors generally preferred not to hand over heretics to the secular arm for execution if they could persuade the heretic to repent. It was in the inquisitors' interest to be perceived as merciful, and they generally preferred to keep defendants alive in hopes of obtaining confessions. For example, Bernard Gui, a famous inquisitor working in the area of Toulouse (in modern France), executed 42 people out of over 900 guilty verdicts in fifteen years of office. Execution was to admit defeat, that the Church was unable to save a soul from heresy, which was the goal of the inquisition.

I ask were the LOVE of Christ. The Church can say that was then, Well look at the Church NOW!!! Leave your little boys with us, we will show them the way.

[WarriorX]

I guess they'll just move them somewhere else..they always do it that way....