The Vatican strongly pushed back Saturday against a bombshell report that linked Pope Benedict’s stunning resignation to the attempted blackmail of a secret group of gay clergy.
Italian newspapers have reported that an internal Vatican investigation produced a 300-page dossier rife with charges that priests were being extorted by gay laymen with whom they had relationships of a “worldy manner.”
That dossier was given to the Pope on Dec. 17 – the same day he decided to resign, according to the La Repubblica newspaper in Rome.
The Vatican slammed the charge, which has become a sensation around the globe, as an attempt to influence the conclave which will select the next pope.
“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,” according to a statement by the Vatican secretariat of state.
He accused the unknown source of the allegations of trying to influence the papal vote with the “pressures of public opinion.” Pope Benedict announced this month that he was resigning – the first pope to do so since 1415 – because he doesn’t have the “strength of mind and body” to continue in the post.
His last day as Pope will be Thursday. His successor will be chosen by the 116-member of College of Cardinals, which includes Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York.
Dolan agreed Saturday that the scandalous report was timed to disrupt the gathering of cardinals, which convenes next month.
“You know whenever you have a transition…you get tons of rumors, all these whispers, most of them are not true,” Dolan said. “Unfortunately, the church has always provided a backdrop for soap operas from the times of the Middle Ages.”
The head of the New York archdiocese claimed to not have been aware of the incendiary document, exclaiming “Good Lord in heaven, I hadn’t heard that” when approached by reporters after an appearance at upper West Side synagogue.
But he then cast doubt on the rumors and urged Catholics and the media to take the pope’s reasons for stepping down at face value.
“I don’t think there’s any accuracy to this stuff,” he said. “I don’t think there’s much to it. I certainly hope not. It shows all the more the need for prayer and penance and renewal that we need in the Church.”
The Vatican has confirmed the existence of the internal investigation, which was launched to probe the 2012 theft of scores of internal Church documents. Three cardinals were given wide-ranging powers and interviewed some of the highest-ranking members of the Curia, the Vatican bureaucracy.
The Vatican is not commenting on the contents of the report, which is contained in two volumes bound in red covers and is being kept in a safe at the papal apartments. It will be given to the next Pope once he is elected.
But La Repubblica reported that the investigation reveals there is a faction within the Vatican whose members are “united by sexual orientation.” That gay lobby, which includes powerful members of the Vatican, allegedly organized sex romps throughout Rome, according to the newspaper.
Several members of that lobby are now being blackmailed by male prostitutes, who allegedly possess compromising photographs of some priests, according to The Daily Beast. The Vatican has denied the charges.
Pope Benedict has frequently denounced gay marriage, including in a speech just days after he decided to resign.
He spoke to the Curia for the final time Saturday, addressing growing dysfunction behind the walls of the Vatican. He urged its members to overcome “pride and egoism” as they combat the “evil, suffering and corruption” that has poisoned God’s creation.
The Pope made no mention of the rumored scandal or the topic of homosexuality and pledged to the cardinals that he would remain close to them in retirement.
