Catholic Bishop Leads Gay "Cabal" in Miami

[Lucky]

Gawker.com reveals in what is for them a long article about the ex-bishop of Miami and his secret gay underground, wherein favored gay priests were rewarded and debauchery went unpunished. It's pretty interesting reading:

(Bishop) Favalora, who was the most powerful Catholic official in Southern Florida from 1994 until last year, stands accused of cultivating what one group of pissed-off Catholics describes as a corrupt "homosexual superculture" in the 195 churches, schools, missions, seminaries, and universities that constitute the Miami Archdiocese. If their allegations are to be believed, for sixteen years Favalora ran his organization like the don of a lavender mob, rewarding his favorite homosexual sons and forgiving their many indiscretions—rampant sex, hedonism, embezzlement, alcoholism, and the railroading of chaste priests among them—while punishing those with the temerity to complain. Wanton hedonistic gay sex is of course unobjectionable—even encouraged!—among those not in thrall to the idea that God hates your penis.

http://gawker.com/5825254/the-catholic-churchs-secret-gay-cabal

[MsGuy]

On first reading the article seems homophobic to me. Despite a couple of disclaimers, it's pretty clear the author finds gay priests distasteful. It's not just the thieves and predators that are being attacked here.

[caeron]

I agree that the author finds the behavior distasteful, but then so do I. The Catholic church is awash in a sea of hypocrisy, but I don't think that excuses priests who sign up to walk the walk, but then don't.

Of course, as an Atheist, I think that's pretty par for the religious course!

[Lucky]

I am currently reading Absolute Monarchs, a history of the papacy. We get to see them all, warts, children, and all. When I went to school, my nun had me believing all of the things she told me. I thought that when the Cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel, that Divine Providence in the form of the Holy Spirit actually guided the Cardinals to pick God's choice.

Well, it doesn't happen that way. Popes fight to get the job, they bribe their way into it, and they enjoy it while they can, for many don't last long.

The favorite pope of MER might be Pope Julius III, a "competent" canon lawyer in the 1500's. The Holy Man "was better known for his infatuation with a seventeen-year old boy, somewhat inappropriately named Innocenzo, whom he had picked up in the streets of Parma two years before and whom on his accession he instantly made a cardinal...Here again was a typical Rennaissance pope, shamelessly self-indulgent...whose banquets...tended to deteriorate into homsoexual orgies after the principal guests had taken their leave... he died of starvation in 1555."

[TotallyOz]

Lucky, have you been watching The Borgias? The election of that pope was really along the lines of what you are talking about.

[lookin]

Boy, it sure sounds like these guys knew how to run a cabal!

I could see visiting on weekends but with my luck I'd probably have got a room across the hall from the Ratzinger Brothers.

[MsGuy]

I could see visiting on weekends but with my luck I'd probably have got a room across the hall from the Ratzinger Brothers.

God forbid you should ever find yourself in such a situation, Lookin, but just in case, PM me for Guido Sarducci's private number. For select gentlemen clients, he provides quite an experience. At $200/hr, he's a real bargain.

[ihpguy]

Although no fan of the misdeeds and sweeping-under-the-rug response of the Catholic Church, I'd like to note that my next door neighbor growing up is now a provincial prior of the Dominican Friars and really just a wonderful man. It is always difficult to think of him as being part of the same group and in the same line of work as the "Nazi pope."

[caeron]

Lucky, have you been watching The Borgias? The election of that pope was really along the lines of what you are talking about.

We enjoyed the heck out of the Borgia's too, and are looking forward to season 2. The stable boy was an angel!

[Lucky]

On first reading the article seems homophobic to me. Despite a couple of disclaimers, it's pretty clear the author finds gay priests distasteful. It's not just the thieves and predators that are being attacked here.

If you are not familiar with gawker.com, the smarmy attitude in its writing is its hallmark. They are not a homophobic site. The material they write about is well-documented, so why not let that be the source of any irritation?

[Lucky]

I find gay priests who preach one thing and do another to be distasteful. I know many good gay priests, or I did at one time. They have a hard time of things because the church won't let them be who they are, yet they feel a calling to the ministry. But all of the stuff the nuns taught me in grade school was so much bullshit and I do resent it when the church comes along and tells me that I am the one who is intrinsically evil.

A robe and a pointed hat does not make one holy!

[MsGuy]

A robe and a pointed hat does not make one holy!

Absolutly right, Lucky, you need one of those big ass kissing rings to complete the spell.

[Lucky]

I finished Absolute Monarchs, the one-volume history of the papacy. Interesting to note that after having reviewed some pretty unsavory popes, the author saves his harshest words for Pope Pius XII. The head of the church in World War Two was horribly anti-Semitic and refused to try to stop the deportation of Jews from Italy to Auschwitz. Not only that, he was racist, refusing to allow the Allies to employ any colored soldiers at the Vatican. The author decries the act of John Paul II to canonize Pius XII.

Lest anyone think it was all bad, there were good popes who tried to do right. Sadly, the Curia, or Vatican bureaucracy, usually stood in the way.

The current pope, Benedict, with hat:

The current pope in sleeveless t-shirt: