VATICAN CITY
Crux
Inés San Martín
July 1, 2016
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT
In a new interview book to appear in September, emeritus Pope Benedict XVI says there was indeed a “gay lobby” inside the Vatican, but says it only had four or five members, that he dismantled it, and that it was not the reason he resigned in February 2013.
ROME-During the days following his historic resignation, many observers speculated that an alleged “gay lobby” within the Vatican had pressured Benedict XVI to step down. In a new interview-book, the emeritus pope admits to the existence of such a lobby, but says it had only “four or five members” and that he’d managed to dismantle it.
Benedict XVI, Final Conversations is the title of the book to be released worldwide on September 9.
This is the first time a pope, or a pope emeritus, has acknowledged on the record that the Vatican either has or had a “gay lobby”. Pope Francis reportedly said one existed soon after his election in 2013, when he had a private meeting with the leaders of the Latin American Confederation of Religious Orders (CLAR).
Yet the Vatican said that encounter was a private one, and CLAR released a statement saying the words couldn’t be attributed to the pope.
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