New Sex Scandal Rocks Vatican
In this Oct. 27, 2009 file photo, James Dimon, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co., speaks in New York. JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States, on Thursday, May 10, 2012 said that it lost $2 billion in the past six weeks in a trading portfolio designed to hedge against risks the company takes with its own money. / AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
The Vatican is facing allegations that one of Pope Benedict's ceremonial ushers, as well as a member of the Vatican choir, were involved in a gay prostitution ring.
"The latest shadow on the church's image," reports CBS News Correspondent Richard Roth, "comes from leaked police reports (on) wiretaps in a separate corruption case. The Vatican wasn't a target, but it's taken a hit."
The recordings, according to Italian press, reveal Angelo Balducci, an Italian executive who's been a Gentleman of his Holiness -- the elite group of black-suited men who serve the pope in unpaid roles as ushers -- negotiating with the 29-year-olf Nigerian Vatican choir member for the services of male prostitutes, as part of the larger prostitution ring.
Balducci is under arrest.
The Vatican reportedly has cut ties to both men but, notes Roth, "bad publicity over sex and sexual abuse charges still confronts the church.
"Irish bishops were called to Rome in february after Benedict expressed outrage over a pedophilia scandal in their country. A prominent Catholic religious order countered new corruption charges in Mexico this week over sex and money. And the pope's old diocese figures in some of the newest sexual abuse claims in Germany."
"We're just scratching the surface here," says CBS News consultant Father Thomas Williams. "There's definitely more to come. We only know of these two men connected with the Vatican in some way, but obviously, they're talking about a ring, and a ring means definitely more people involved. So, I'm sure more will be coming out in the days to come."
Williams, speaking from Vatican City, observed to "Early Show Saturday Edition" co-anchor Chris Wragge that, "It's really a sordid affair, and we really didn't need this right now, but it is what it is."
How could a papal usher have been involved in what authorities claim Balducci was up to?
"You do the best you can to screen these people. But there are 150 of these men that serve as ushers as Gentlemen to His Holiness. And it's hard to know exactly what they're doing in their private lives. They don't live in Vatican City, they have their jobs, their families and they have other things going on, as well."
Vatican officials, says Williams, have "tried to distance themselves from these two men, letting them both go, the one form the choir, the other form the gentlemen. I'm sure the Pope will have words about this, as well, just once again saying. 'This and is not what we believe and this is not what we teach, and people simply make mistakes." '
The Catholic church, Williams says, has "got to endure it. What gives us a little bit of hope and consolation -- you look back over the centuries, and this has been going on for an awfully long time. It's not something unique to the Catholic Church, either. It's a part of our fallen human nature. People do this. It's just hard when it's people who are very well-known, people who have celebrity and people especially connected to a religious organization who are meant to give a better example."
Williams admits it's "very tough" coping within his own order when charges of these nature surface. "This is something that's very painful for all of us and it makes me appreciate what other people have suffered, as well, because you really feel let down. It's like having a father figure, mother figure, someone who's been very close to you who goes and does something terrible and you do, you feel very let down. But you have to just pick up the pieces and keep going."
Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved. "The latest shadow on the church's image," reports CBS News Correspondent Richard Roth, "comes from leaked police reports (on) wiretaps in a separate corruption case. The Vatican wasn't a target, but it's taken a hit."
The recordings, according to Italian press, reveal Angelo Balducci, an Italian executive who's been a Gentleman of his Holiness -- the elite group of black-suited men who serve the pope in unpaid roles as ushers -- negotiating with the 29-year-olf Nigerian Vatican choir member for the services of male prostitutes, as part of the larger prostitution ring.
Balducci is under arrest.
The Vatican reportedly has cut ties to both men but, notes Roth, "bad publicity over sex and sexual abuse charges still confronts the church.
"Irish bishops were called to Rome in february after Benedict expressed outrage over a pedophilia scandal in their country. A prominent Catholic religious order countered new corruption charges in Mexico this week over sex and money. And the pope's old diocese figures in some of the newest sexual abuse claims in Germany."
"We're just scratching the surface here," says CBS News consultant Father Thomas Williams. "There's definitely more to come. We only know of these two men connected with the Vatican in some way, but obviously, they're talking about a ring, and a ring means definitely more people involved. So, I'm sure more will be coming out in the days to come."
Williams, speaking from Vatican City, observed to "Early Show Saturday Edition" co-anchor Chris Wragge that, "It's really a sordid affair, and we really didn't need this right now, but it is what it is."
How could a papal usher have been involved in what authorities claim Balducci was up to?
"You do the best you can to screen these people. But there are 150 of these men that serve as ushers as Gentlemen to His Holiness. And it's hard to know exactly what they're doing in their private lives. They don't live in Vatican City, they have their jobs, their families and they have other things going on, as well."
Vatican officials, says Williams, have "tried to distance themselves from these two men, letting them both go, the one form the choir, the other form the gentlemen. I'm sure the Pope will have words about this, as well, just once again saying. 'This and is not what we believe and this is not what we teach, and people simply make mistakes." '
The Catholic church, Williams says, has "got to endure it. What gives us a little bit of hope and consolation -- you look back over the centuries, and this has been going on for an awfully long time. It's not something unique to the Catholic Church, either. It's a part of our fallen human nature. People do this. It's just hard when it's people who are very well-known, people who have celebrity and people especially connected to a religious organization who are meant to give a better example."
Williams admits it's "very tough" coping within his own order when charges of these nature surface. "This is something that's very painful for all of us and it makes me appreciate what other people have suffered, as well, because you really feel let down. It's like having a father figure, mother figure, someone who's been very close to you who goes and does something terrible and you do, you feel very let down. But you have to just pick up the pieces and keep going."
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Claiming itself answerable only to a world beyond this one-it is hard to imagine a more absolute sense of entitlement to power than in the leadership of the Catholic Church.
And in what does absolute corruption consist?
IOR, whose only shareholder is the Pope, has been up to its armpits in gun running, money laundering, war mongering, drugs, prostitution, human trafficking; murder and torture of 'heretics, infidels, Jews' and concordats with Hitler/Mussolini; priests actually running death camps for the Germans in eastern Europe; pedophilia going back for centuries; celibates using the confessional to solicit sex. History has never been silent on this stew of corruption--and yet, these pale insipid effeminate men have never been held accountable. This is what evil looks like--wormlike and grotesque--painted sepulchres. The Pope and Cardinals need to be tried in a world court for Crimes Against Humanity. We needn't dredge up the past...there is plenty of current material on which to book them.
Claiming itself answerable only to a world beyond this one-it is hard to imagine a more absolute sense of entitlement to power than in the leadership of the Catholic Church.
And in what does absolute corruption consist?
IOR, whose only shareholder is the Pope, has been up to its armpits in gun running, money laundering, war mongering, drugs, prostitution, human trafficking; murder and torture of 'heretics, infidels, Jews' and concordats with Hitler/Mussolini; priests actually running death camps for the Germans in eastern Europe; pedophilia going back for centuries; celibates using the confessional to solicit sex. History has never been silent on this stew of corruption--and yet, these pale insipid effeminate men have never been held accountable. This is what evil looks like--wormlike and grotesque--painted sepulchres. The Pope and Cardinals need to be tried in a world court for Crimes Against Humanity. We needn't dredge up the past...there is plenty of current material on which to book them.
Smokes... and I'm not refering to finding a new Pope either!
If I had known at 65 years of age that I could have found my male partner years before by being a Catholic parishoner or Priest, heck... I would have jumped at the chance!
I wonder what tomorrow will bring... or next week, or next month?! I'm sure the Pope would rather not even think about it, poor guy!
Dakotahgeo, M.Div. Pastor/Chaplain
its the best defense
A mistake is something a person did not mean to do and regrets--the only thing these men regret is being caught. I'd like to know how many "Gentlemen's gentlemen" there are and how many of them might have been in this ring and who they may have 'served' besides the Pope and in what capacities. Many people have long believed that when sexual deviance is this rife, it is probably sanctioned and institutionalized from high up as in this is the way of life for many within the church and perhaps Bishops, Cardinals and others have served in that capacity in the past or participated in homosexual activities. It would not be so prevalent or so well covered up and tolerated if it was not all just something they all were used to.
What is new is the public exposure and the scorn in both the hypocrisy and the cover ups. Now who ever first failed to pay off and quiet the victims or allowed the press to know about the homosexual affairs--THAT is what the vatican probably considers the mistake.
I would not be surprised to learn that the ring went into the inner circles of the vatican--what can anyone expect from an avocation that pits males against their own nature yet in proximity of each other? Sex will OUT, prayer or no prayers--vows or no vows. It's a matter of temptation and that secret groups acceptance.