BishopAccountability.org
	Many Priests in Illicit Relationships: Book By Nick Squires Edmonton Journal April 21, 2011 http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/Many+priests+illicit+relationships+book/4651901/story.html Thousands of Catholic priests are in illicit relationships with both men and women in contravention of the Vatican's teachings on celibacy and homosexuality, a new book by an investigative journalist claims. Some priests pay ex-lovers hush money so as not to be found out, while others covertly support their illegitimate children through school, the book alleges. Carmelo Abbate spent months undercover documenting a "hidden world" in which heterosexual priests have children with women who can never be their wives, and gay priests of many nationalities visit nightclubs in Rome and pay for sex with escorts. His book, Sex and the Vatican: A secret journey in the reign of the chaste, was published in Italian on Wednesday. Two British publishers are interested in buying the rights. "The purpose of the book is not to shame Catholic clergy; it is to expose the hypocrisy and double standards of the Church," Abbate, an awardwinning investigative reporter, told the Daily Telegraph. "There is a culture of 'omerta' (silence) in which the Church pretends not to know about any of this. If the authorities do find out, they just cover it up so as to avoid any scandal." The book developed from an investigation conducted by Abbate last year in which he used hidden cameras to film three priests attending gay nightspots in Rome and having casual sex, before donning their cassocks the next day and holding church services. "At the time the Church said that these were just isolated incidents. I wanted to explore whether that was true, and what I found was that the phenomenon is much, much wider," he said. He cited research that suggests as many as a third of Catholic priests in the United States are gay and a quarter are in heterosexual relationships with women. Similar statistics have been reported in Germany and Austria. Women made pregnant by priests told him of being forced to have abortions, or having to put their children up for adoption in a desperate attempt to keep their relationships secret.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.