Here are the main episodes of this ongoing story.
1. June 11, 2013: "Gay lobby" mentioned. Rorate was the first venue to lift the matter from an obscure Chilean source: the content of the Pope's informal conversation with the leaders of the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR), in which the Pope himself spoke of a "gay lobby"; we were also the first bring it to worldwide attention with our translation. For more detail, see our original post.
2. July 18, 2013: Sandro Magister mentions strong hints of homosexual liaisons of one of the most powerful men in the Vatican, Msgr. Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca, manager of the Domus Sanctae Marthae (where the Pope lives) and named for relevant overseeing positions in the Vatican - in a series of posts, see here, here, and here.
Sandro Magister's several articles and the evidence detained by his magazine, L'Espresso, have never been publicly refuted.
3. July 28, 2013: Pope downplays "gay lobby".
During the press conference in the return flight from Brazil, the Pope is asked about Msgr. Ricca. He says the following:
In this case, I conducted the preliminary investigation and we didn’t find anything. This is the first question. Then, you spoke about the gay lobby. So much is written about the gay lobby. I still haven’t found anyone with an identity card in the Vatican with “gay” on it. They say there are some there. I believe that when you are dealing with such a person, you must distinguish between the fact of a person being gay and the fact of someone forming a lobby, because not all lobbies are good. This one is not good. If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?
As it can be seen, the now famous "Who am I to judge?" was indeed a specific answer to Sandro Magister's accusation, and to the "gay lobby" expression mentioned by the Pope himself to CLAR.
4. January 4, 2014: In revelations published by Swiss weekly Schweiz am Sonntag (a summary of the publication available here at the Daily Mail), an anonymous former member of the Swiss Guard makes breathtaking declarations:
A former Swiss Guard has claimed he was regularly asked for sex by a 'gay lobby' of high-ranking clergy in the Vatican.
Cardinals, bishops, priests and other officials in the Vatican had regularly attempted to engage the unnamed man, who was responsible for the Pope's security, in illicit rendezvous, according to new claims.
The former guard said he received up to 20 'unambiguous requests' from members of the clergy and was asked for sex by a dignitary close to Pope John Paul II, a Swiss weekly newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag reported.
The former guard said his experiences, several years ago, added weight to allegations of a 'gay lobby' being active in the Vatican.
5. January 18, 2014: First, a note: we tweeted about this on Sunday, soon after Mäder's interview was published in Schweiz am Sonntag.
Probably because no stern reaction came from the Vatican, the team of Schweiz am Sonntag went looking for Swiss Guards who would agree to go on record. And they found not just one Swiss Guard, but a former high Commander himself, former Kommandant Elmar Theodor Mäder, who served in the Guard for ten long years (1998-2008), and served in the highest position for six years (2002-2008). Despite denying the wilder details of the anonymous Guard to the same paper a fortnight earlier, his revelations are nothing short of explosive. Here is our translation of the actual article:
Probably because no stern reaction came from the Vatican, the team of Schweiz am Sonntag went looking for Swiss Guards who would agree to go on record. And they found not just one Swiss Guard, but a former high Commander himself, former Kommandant Elmar Theodor Mäder, who served in the Guard for ten long years (1998-2008), and served in the highest position for six years (2002-2008). Despite denying the wilder details of the anonymous Guard to the same paper a fortnight earlier, his revelations are nothing short of explosive. Here is our translation of the actual article:
Ex-guard chief warns of secret societySaturday, January 18, 2014 23:28
Elmar Mäder sees security problem in the Vatican.
He knows the Vatican and its secrets from his own experience: 50-year-old Elmar Mäder served ten years as a Swiss Guard. In 1998 Pope John Paul II appointed him Deputy Commander of the Pontifical Swiss Guards, which he then headed from 2002 to 2008 as Commander.
The man from Saint-Gall was responsible, along with his over 100 Guards, for the security of the Holy Father. He was therefore able to gain deep insights of the inner workings of the Roman Curia. Mäder denies statements by former Guards to Schweiz am Sonntag that they had been on the receiving end of sexual advances by clerics. In his opinion these somewhat "wild tales" that were told "obviously lacked any factual basis."
But the former Commander does not deny the existence of the much mentioned gay lobby in the Vatican, quite the contrary: "I cannot refute the claim that there is a homosexual network," Mäder affirms. "My experience speaks for the existence of such [a network]."
You should be aware of the following: according to Schweiz am Sonntag's own investigation, Mäder was the Commander who is said to have warned the Guards about some lustful clerics, telling them to stay away from the latter. It is even said that Mäder intervened in writing in the Curia [regarding this matter]. This fact would not have been much appreciated in the Vatican, and might have been one reason for his resignation. Mäder, who today is the CEO of a medical technology corporation will not comment on this himself: "It is not my intention to speak publicly about my conversations and correspondence with my superiors."
However, unrelated to former [specific] events, Mäder talks "generally speaking about the homosexual network." And these statements are themselves significant. "A work environment in which the vast majority consists of unmarried men is by itself a magnet for homosexuals, whether they seek it consciously or are unconsciously following an urge," says the former Commander of the Swiss Guards. "The Roman Curia is certainly this kind of environment. Just as it is unsurprising that pedophiles are to be found in many environments such as schools or sports clubs."
Mackey makes it clear that homosexuality itself poses no problem for him. Even the Church does not condemn «Homosexuality itself, because they are there, obviously."
But Mäder sees threats to the security of the Pope. His statement is explosive: "I have learned that many homosexuals tend to be loyal to each other rather than to other persons or institutions. If this loyalty goes so far as to become a network, or even a kind of secret society, I would not be able to tolerate within my decision-making area. In the Vatican, decisive people now seem to feel the same way."
This clearly means Mäder agrees with Pope Francis, who said at a private audience: "Yes, there is a 'gay lobby' [in the Curia]. We need to see what we can do about it." That even a man with a deep knowledge of the Vatican as Mäder called the network a "secret society" will lead to turmoil in Rome.
The mistrust of the former Commander of the Swiss Guards [regarding homosexuals] is clear in his following statement: "I have even asked myself the hypothetical question, would I have promoted a homosexual? No, I would not have." Mäder explained this difficult statement as follows: "Not in fact because of his homosexuality, but because I can only have an absolutely loyal cadre in the security profession. The risk of disloyalty would have been too great for me."
6. January 21, 2014: The sostituto of the Secretariat of State, Abp. Becciu, says to La Repubblica "enough" (basta!) to "anonymous accusations".
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Note: It looks like stonewalling...
Why is this network dangerous? Not because homosexuals are dangerous people themselves or bound to promote "conspiracies", but because, as Mäder describes, in order to protect themselves, active homosexuals and their friends end up trading their loyalties to their superiors and the Institution founded by Christ for personal loyalties and blackmail. That is, since they know it is both wrong and condemned by permanent Catholic doctrine and practice, they create an underground loyalty network, and their loyalties go to their accomplices rather than to the Bride of Christ.
Why would revealing names make any difference? Sandro Magister could not have been more explicit in name-revealing and not much happened. All signs and hints seem to indicate that in the immense dossier that in all likelihood prompted Benedict XVI to consider his abdication and was personally handed by him to Francis in Castel Gandolfo there was information on the networks of influence inside the Vatican, in particular a "homosexual network". And no network seems to be more powerful there than the homosexual network - precisely for the reasons indicated by Mäder, that is, because, barring strict moral discipline and permanent enforcement at admission, an environment dominated by single men is bound to attract a disproportionate amount of homosexuals looking for likeminded people.
Instead of stonewalling (no pun intended), the Vatican should once and for all really start investigating and extirpating the secret network revealed by former Commander Mäder.
Instead of stonewalling (no pun intended), the Vatican should once and for all really start investigating and extirpating the secret network revealed by former Commander Mäder.
