There’s some serious drama afoot in Vatican City. The archdiocese of Naples has sent the Vatican a report outing 40 gay priests and seminarians in Italy.
The 1,200-page dossier was compiled with the help of gay male escort, Francesco Mangiacapra, who told local media that he revealed the priest’s identities because he was fed up with their hypocrisy. The dossier reportedly included chat logs from WhatsApp.
To be clear, this isn’t quite like the numerous sex scandals to previously rock the Roman Catholic Church. By that, I mean none of the six seminarians and 34 priests implicated in the dossier were accused of having sex with minors. Just last month, Monsignor Pietro Amenta, who was a judge on the Roman Rota, pled guilty to child pornography charges. The judge was also accused of trying to fondle an 18-year-old man. He eventually resigned. Anyway, as Mangiacapra said in a statement, “We’re talking about sins, not crimes.”
Meanwhile, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe said he decided to send the file to the Vatican because “there remains the gravity of the cases for which those who have erred must pay the price, and be helped to repent for the harm done.”
