The Vatican is slamming the Italian media for reporting that a secret dossier given to Pope Benedict XVI in December contains information about ring of homosexual partnerships within the church's highest order which has led Benedict to announce his resignation.
Italian newspaper La Repubblica claimed the secret report contained information about a "gay network" inside the Vatican, uncovering an underground network of senior clergy who organized "sexual meetings in several venues in Rome and Vatican City, leaving them prone to blackmail," the newspaper reported, according to the Daily Mail.
The Vatican claims the the Italian media has published a run of defamatory and false reports about the papacy in an attempt to influence the election, a report from MSN stated. The pope claims he does not have the "strength of mind and body" to continue his rein.
La Repubblica claims the pope will quit because he cannot face the repercussions dealing with the 300-page dossier, prompting the first papal resignation in 700 years.
In recent days Italian newspapers have been filled with reports, citing unnamed sources, suggesting that contents of a secret dossier, which was prepared for the pope by the same three cardinals who investigated the origins of a scandal involving leaked Vatican documents in 2012. The report's revelations, namely that a gay faction exists within the church and is able to exert control on the careers of those in the Vatican, led the pope to announce his resignation, the Daily Mail reported, citing La Repubblica.
The paper also states that members of the high clergy were blackmailed by the men with whom they have had relationships of "a worldly nature."
The Vatican said it is not confirming or denying the alleged contents of the report and has indicated the media is trying to influence the outcome of the upcoming papal elections.
"It is deplorable that as we draw closer to the time of the beginning of the conclave ... that there be a widespread distribution of often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories that cause serious damage to persons and institutions," a Vatican spokesman said.
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