VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register
NEWS ANALYSIS: Msgr. Battista Ricca is accused of homosexual scandal, but papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi calls the allegations ‘not credible.’
by EDWARD PENTIN 07/24/2013
VATICAN CITY — Conflicting reports surround allegations that a priest, appointed last month as an interim prelate of the institution colloquially known as the Vatican Bank, has ties with a “gay lobby” operating within the Holy See.
On July 3, respected Vatican analyst Sandro Magister alleged that Msgr. Battista Ricca had a relationship with another man — the “intimacy” of which was “so open as to scandalize numerous bishops, priests and laity” of Uruguay, where he served in the nunciature from 1999 to 2004.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi July 19 rejected the allegations as “not credible.”
Pope Francis appointed Msgr. Ricca, a 57-year-old Vatican diplomat, temporary prelate of the Vatican Bank — officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) — on June 15 in a bid to help reform the scandal-ridden institution. Until now, Msgr. Ricca had served as director of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the residence where the Pope currently lives.
Magister claims the Italian clergyman’s alleged dark past was hidden from the Holy Father in a bid to embarrass the Pope and hinder reform of the IOR, which is trying to meet international anti-fraud regulations.
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