July 28, 2017, Friday
…And Attack the Brother
“The Lord does not abandon His Church, even when the boat has taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing.” —Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, in remarks he prepared in Rome for the July 15 funeral in Cologne, Germany, of his old friend Cardinal Joachim Meisner, who died on July 5. The remarks were read by Archbishop Georg Gaenswein in Cologne; Emeritus Pope Benedict did not attend the funeral but remained in the Vatican where he has lived since his resignation in 2013
“It is in Heraclitus that the theory of the Logos appears for the first time, and it is doubtless for this reason that, first among the Greek philosophers, Heraclitus was regarded by St. Justin (Apol. I, 46) as a Christian before Christ. For him the Logos, which he seems to identify with fire, is that universal principle which animates and rules the world…
“The concept of the Logos reappears in the writings of the Stoics, and it is especially by them that this theory is developed. God, according to them, ‘did not make the world as an artisan does his work, but… by wholly penetrating all matter’… He penetrates the world ‘as honey does the honeycomb’ (Tertullian, Adv. Hermogenem, 44)…
“This Logos is at the same time a force and a law, an irresistible force which bears along the entire world and all creatures to a common end, an inevitable and holy law from which nothing can withdraw itself, and which every reasonable man should follow willingly…
“What is the precise value of this concept in the writings of St. John? The Logos has not for him the Stoic meaning that it so often had for Philo: it is not the impersonal power that sustains the world… the Word is for him the Word of God, and thereby he holds with Jewish tradition, the theology of the Book of Wisdom, of the Psalms, of the Prophetical Books, and of Genesis; he perfects the idea and transforms it by showing that this creative Word which from all eternity was in God and was God, took flesh and dwelt among men.” —The definition of The Logos, in the Catholic Encyclopedia (link)
=================
Stories left out
In my account two days ago of some of the events of the last 30 days in the Church, I left something out.
In fact, two things.
(At least two things…)
I listed a certain number of events in late June and the first half of July:
— the departure of the Vatican’s chief accountant, Libero Milone, and of Cardinal George Pell, who had a leading role in the Pope’s financial reform project;
— Pope Francis’ abrupt dismissal of Cardinal Gerhard Mueller in early July;
— Mueller’s reaction to that dismissal; the death in Germany on July 5 of Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne (one of the four signers of the “dubia” — “doubts” — concerning the moral teaching of Amoris Laetitia; only three of the signers are still living, Cardinals Carlo Caffara, Walter Brandmueller and Raymond Burke);
— the reaction of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI to Meisner’s death (Meisner was his friend), and Benedict’s written tribute to Meisner, read at the July 15 funeral of the German cardinal;
— the various interpretations of that text as a veiled criticism of Pope Francis, and the denial of that intrepretation by Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, the personal secretary of Emeritus Pope Benedict, and the reader of the text at the funeral;
— the turning off of the fountains in St. Peter’s Square due to drought in Italy, while rumors swirled throughout the City concerning a number of possible future administrative, doctrinal, and liturgical initiatives of the now 81-year-old Pope Francis.
But several things were left out.
And all “Vatican observers,” arguably, ought to know about at least two of these things, if they are to form a more complete picture of the Church’s present situation.
One matter left out was the story of… a scandalous Vatican party.
That story first broke on June 28, and continued to be reported on throughout July, particularly in the days after July 8. (see below)
The second matter left out was the story of allegations of child abuse over 40 years in the famous Catholic boys’ choir of the cathedral of Regensburg, Germany.
The special significance of this story was that the choir had been directed for 30 years by the now 93-year-old older brother of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, Father Georg Ratzinger.
So, the story related to Emeritus Pope Benedict, because it involved his older brother.
The story broke on July 18, just three days after the funeral Mass of Cardinal Meisner, where Archbishop Gaenswein read Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI’s text which included the phrase cited above: “The Lord does not abandon His Church, even when the boat has taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing.”
This remark was widely interpreted in the media — though not by all — as a veiled criticism of Pope Francis’ leadership of the Church (an interpretation flatly denied as false by the secretary of the Emeritus Pope, Archbishop Gaenswein).
And, in this context, some in the media saw the release of the allegations against the Emeritus Pope’s brother as a counter-attack against the Emeritus Pope — though others scoffed at this “conspiratorial” interpretation of events.
The important point here, then, would be that many “Vatican watchers” were seeing every development in the Church this summer, every decision, every remark, as part of a continuing struggle, mediated by the media, by various web sites in various parts of the world, to “control the narrative” regarding the direction of the Church.
That is, to control the direction and speed of the barque of Peter’s course, in the Church’s journey toward the eternal Logos, guided by the eternal Logos, during the years ahead…
The Party
Strikingly, the “Vatican party” story is one for which there is no named source whatsoever.
This is a principal reason why I at first resisted writing anything about the matter. (I wrote “no comment” in my Letter #41 of July 7, three weeks ago.)
In fact, what useful comment can one make about a story which has no named sources?
Isn’t it the height of journalistic sensationalism to run, and run, and run, with an un-sourced story?
Think about it: no sources. Hearsay. Rumor… The perfect ground in which to plant and grow… fake news…
Yet this story was spread around the world, spread from website to website in the same way all rumors pass, whisperingly, as happens among washerwomen on the shores of a river as they beat their clothes and linens free from the encrusted dirt of work and use, and whisper among themselves of what has happened, or is believed to have happened, in their village…
Only the washerwomen’s village is now a global one…
Ok… What about this “Vatican party” story?
I have now managed to confirm that some sort of a party did in fact take place, and that the Vatican police did come to investigate the party, entering a Vatican apartment where the party was being held, and breaking up the party.
So, there seems a legitimate basis for an attempt to trace out at least part of the genesis and development of this story, though there still seems no reliable basis for any detailed presentation of the facts.
What is this story?
It is reported that:
— a “wild” party involving homosexual activity and considerable use of drugs, was taking place in the Vatican, several weeks ago — no one has reported a precise date except to say that, in early July, the events were “about two months ago,” so the party was perhaps in early May
— in an apartment on the upper floors of the Palace of the Holy Office, and that
— the Vatican police broke up the party after prelates in neighboring apartments complained about the “comings and goings” of party guests.
(Here is a view of the Palace of the Holy Office. On the lowest floor, on the right, are the offices of the Ecclesia Dei commission. On the second floor, the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. On the two top floors, apartments for Vatican officials, some for cardinals, some for archbishops and bishops, almost none for mere monsignors. It is in one of these apartments that the “Vatican party” is said to have taken place, sometime this spring, perhaps in May. Evidently guests may have exited and entered from the front door of the palace, which issues directly onto the piazza, and so, from Vatican territory to territory of the state of Italy, meaning that this type of behavior was, among other things, a major security issue for the protection of the Pope…)
The Vatican police are said to have found the host of the party, the resident in that apartment, a Vatican monsignor, in such a state that he needed to be transported to a Roman hospital for detoxifaction from drugs.
Evidently, this may have been a reason that the story “leaked” — because the hospital was outside of the Vatican and so the story may have become known in Rome.
Now, let us consider the location.
This palace is the same palace which hosts in part of its space the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger worked for 24 years, from 1982 until 2005, when he was elected Pope, and the same place where Cardinal Gerhard Mueller worked for the past five years, from 2011 until three weeks ago.
And, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is the same body, with a new name, as the Holy Office of the Inquisition.
This palace, indeed, is still called “The Palace of the Holy Office” — in Italian, Palazzo del Sant’Uffizio.
In other words, the offices of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, the body that attempted to protect Church doctrine from error and heresy, became the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), when Paul VI decided the new name would be more “appropriate,” more “positive.”
Paul VI and his advisors, in keeping with the Council, felt that the truths of the faith should be promoted, not hemmed around with stark anathemas and denunciations hurled at innovative proponents of new doctrines.
So, this palace is a place connected with Catholic doctrine, Catholic orthodoxy, with the effort to formulate logical and persuasive arguments on behalf of the truths of the faith, a place, one might say, of logos, of reason, of meaning, of logic, of service to the incarnate Logos, Jesus Christ, the Logos of God.
And it was in this place, precisely, that “the party” took place…
The use of powerful drugs and, allegedly, orgiastic sexual activity, in this place, would be a mockery of the Logos at the very center of the Church.
It would be a sign of the emptiness and disordered passion which tempt all humans to sin and despair, but occurring in this particular place, at this moment when Pope Francis is attempting to reform the entire central government of the Church, which also opposed the work of Pope Benedict XVI during much of his pontificate, it bears with it the smell of sulfur…
Here is the first account that was published, in Italian, on June 28; I give both the original Italian and an English translation, paragraph by paragraph:
Vaticano, fermato un monsignore: festini gay e droga al Palazzo dell’ex Sant’Uffizio (link)
Vatican, a monsignor arrested: gay parties and drugs in the Palace of the former Holy Office
Il segretario di un importante cardinale colto in flagrante dalla Gendarmeria della Santa sede e spedito a disintossicarsi nel riserbo più assoluto. La lussuosa auto con targa d’Oltretevere lo avrebbe protetto dai controlli della polizia italiana. Il religioso era in predicato di diventare vescovo, ma la nomina è stata fermata. Papa Francesco furioso
The secretary of an important Cardinal caught “in the act” by the Holy See’s Gendarmerie and dispatched to detoxify himself in the utmost secrecy. The luxurious car with a Vatican license plate would have protected him from the control of the Italian police. The religious was on the road to becoming a bishop, but the appointment has been stopped. Pope Francis furious
By Francesco Antonio Grana | 28 giugno 2017
Un festino gay a base di droga. È quello che hanno scoperto gli uomini della Gendarmeria vaticana in un blitz all’interno di un appartamento nel Palazzo dell’ex Sant’Uffizio. Proprio lì dove per un quarto di secolo l’allora cardinale Joseph Ratzinger ha svolto il suo incarico di prefetto della Congregazione per la dottrina della fede prima di essere eletto Papa.
A homosexual party with the use of drugs. It’s what the men of the Vatican Gendarmerie discovered in a blitz in an apartment in the former Sant’Uffizio Palace. Precisely where for a quarter of a century the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before being elected Pope.
L’inquilino dell’appartamento, stando a quanto raccontano in Vaticano, è un monsignore che svolge le mansioni di segretario di un importante porporato a capo di un dicastero della Curia romana. L’uomo, subito fermato dalla Gendarmeria, è stato prima ricoverato per un breve periodo nella clinica romana Pio XI per disintossicarsi dalle sostanze stupefacenti, e attualmente si trova in ritiro spirituale in un convento in Italia.
The tenant of the apartment, as they say in the Vatican, is a Monsignor who carries out the duties of secretary of an important cardinal head of a dicastery of the Roman Curia. The man, immediately taken into custody by the Gendarmerie, was first hospitalized for a short time in the Roman Pius XI clinic to detoxify from the drugs, and is currently in a spiritual retreat in a convent in Italy.
In Vaticano bocche cucite o quasi sull’operazione delicatissima svolta dagli uomini comandati da Domenico Giani. Qualcuno si lascia scappare di essersi lamentato più volte per un continuo via vai dal portone di ingresso, la sera, di persone che erano abituali frequentatori del monsignore fermato.
In the Vatican, mouths are sewn up [i.e., no one is talking], or almost, on the delicate operation carried out by the men commanded by Domenico Giani [the head of the Vatican police force]. Someone lets slip that he complained repeatedly due to a continual coming and going from the entrance door in the evening, of people who were habitual visitors of the monsignor arrested.
All’interno dei sacri palazzi spiegano che l’appartamento dove si consumavano i festini a luci rosse a base di droga non doveva essere assegnato al segretario di un capo dicastero. Si tratta, infatti, di un’abitazione riservata ai superiori: prefetti, presidenti o segretari della Curia romana e non semplici monsignori.
Inside the sacred palaces they explain that the apartment where the “red light” parties took place including use of drugs was not rightly assigned to the secretary of the head of a dicastery. In fact, it is a residence reserved for superiors: prefects, presidents, or secretaries of the Roman Curia, and not just simple monsignors.
Così come aveva destato diversi malumori che il presule in questione avesse una macchina lussuosa con la targa della Santa Sede. Anche questo è un privilegio riservato ad alti prelati. Evidentemente, come emerso anche da alcune ricostruzioni fatte in Vaticano, era proprio questo veicolo che consentiva al suo proprietario di trasportare la droga senza essere mai fermato dalla polizia italiana.
Likewise, it had prompted considerable irritation that the monsignor in question had a luxurious car with a Holy See license plate. This also is a privilege reserved for high prelates. Evidently, as has emerged from some reconstructions made in the Vatican, it was precisely this vehicle that allowed its owner to transport drugs without ever being stopped by the Italian police.
Si racconta di un Papa a dir poco infuriato quando, dopo che era arrivata la soffiata ed era stata decisa l’operazione della Gendarmeria, ha saputo che il monsignore era stato beccato sul fatto.
It is said that the Pope was, to say the least, infuriated when, after the complaints came and the operation of the Gendarmerie had been decided, he learned that the Monsignor had been caught in the act.
Tra i condomini del Palazzo dell’ex Sant’Uffizio l’imbarazzo è diffuso, ma anche la rassicurazione che, almeno per il momento, tornerà a regnare un po’ di tranquillità nell’edificio.
Among those who live in the Palace of the former Holy Office, there is general embarrassment, but also the reassurance that, at least for the moment, will come back to reign a bit of tranquillity in the building.
Il suo ingresso principale, infatti, dà direttamente su piazza del Sant’Uffizio che è già territorio italiano ed è fuori da ogni controllo delle Guardie Svizzere e della Gendarmeria.
Its main entrance, in fact, opens directly onto the square of the Holy Office which is already Italian territory and is out of control of the Swiss Guards and the Gendarmerie.
Chiunque, di giorno e di notte, può entrare liberamente in Vaticano da questo accesso senza subire alcun controllo e senza ovviamente essere schedato. Una location perfetta per godere dei privilegi dell’extraterritorialità senza però dover sottostare né ai controlli dello Stato italiano, né a quelli della Città del Vaticano.
Anyone, day or night, can enter the Vatican freely from this entrance without being subject to any control and without obviously his identity being checked. A perfect location to enjoy the privileges of extraterritoriality without having to undergo the controls either of the Italian government or of the Vatican City State.
Risolta, per usare un eufemismo, la vicenda a dir poco incresciosa del monsignore, resta da chiarire la posizione del cardinale di cui era segretario.
Now solved, to use a euphemism, the unhappy case of the monsignor, it remains to clarify the position of the cardinal of whom he is the secretary.
“Possibile che non si sia mai accorto di nulla? Eppure diceva che lavoravano insieme fino a tardi”, si lascia scappare ancora un alto prelato.
“Is it possible that he [i.e., the cardinal] never noticed anything? Yet he often said that they worked together until late,” commented a high prelate.
Si vocifera che, considerando anche l’età del porporato che ha ampiamente superato i 75 anni, ovvero l’età canonica delle dimissioni, Francesco abbia deciso di accelerarne il pensionamento anche a causa degli ultimi avvenimenti.
It is rumored that, also considering the age of the cardinal, who has extensively exceeded 75 years, or the canonical age of resignation, Pope Francis has decided to accelerate his retirement also due to the recent events.
“Aveva proposto il suo segretario per l’episcopato. Fortuna che non lo hanno nominato vescovo. Ora che cosa sarebbe successo?”, è la considerazione di un presule condivisa anche da altri confratelli.
“He had proposed his secretary for the episcopate. Lucky that they did not appoint him bishop. Now what would happen?” is the judgment of a prelate also shared by other confreres.
Ma qualcuno ha fermato questa nomina prima che fosse troppo tardi.
But someone stopped that appointment before it was too late.
[End of Italian article]
===============
So, that was the first report on this story: without any source cited by name, only “prelates,” “high prelates,” and “it is said” — of course, “it is said” is always a backup source for journalists who have no others…
So, what do we have?
No detail of this event has been confirmed by named sources.
Not the name of the monsignor, or of the cardinal of whom he is said to be the secretary.
Not the date of the party.
Not the number of people present.
Not the time it began and ended.
Not what happened at the party.
Not who decided to send the Vatican gendarmes to investigate and break up the party.
Not what the Pope was told about the party.
And not what the consequences of the party.
There is no inventory of drugs found, no photographs of those partying.
Still, despite all these unknowns, this story picked up momentum, and spread like wildfire.
On June 30, in a piece on a French website, the party-hosting monsignor had a name: Monsignor Luigi Capozzi, 50, from Salerno, ordained in Amalfi on December 19, 1992 and incardinated in the diocese of Palestrina, not far from Rome.
And thus there also appeared in public (on the web) the name of Capozzi’s boss, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, which means Coccopalmerio is like the Church’s Chief Justice, the chief interpreter of the Church’s laws. (link and also link)
And, at this link, we are told that the bishop of Palestrina, Domenico Sigalini, where Capozzi is incardinated, has expressed support for homosexual marriage:
“Nel settembre 2016 il vescovo di Palestrina… fece i complimenti ai due omosessuali che per primi contrassero uno pseudo-matrimonio gay a Roma: ‘è fuori discussione che due amici che si amano abbiano gli stessi diritti di qualsiasi altra coppia.'”
“In September 2016, the bishop of Palestrina… congratulated two homosexuals who were the first to contract a gay pseudo-marriage in Rome: ‘There is no doubt that two friends who love one another have the same rights as any other couple.'”
Still, there is no source given for the names of the monsignor and his cardinal. Who released those names?
Odd…
Does it come from the Vatican Gendarmes? No one claims that.
Certainly there was no press release from the Vatican Press Office — no comment whatsoever.
So where is this information coming from?
And, is it reliable?
Interestingly, the bishop of Palestrina in 2016 was not quite as “pro-gay marriage” as the quotation chosen would suggest. At this website (link), where there are photos of the two men, there is also this:
“I send my best wishes to this new couple,” the bishop of Palestrina said. “I wish them happiness, but they should not call themselves a family.” (“A Francisco e Luca, la prima coppia gay ad essere unita civilmente nella Capitale, arrivano anche gli auguri di un vescovo. «Faccio gli auguri a questa nuova coppia. Auguro loro felicità ma non la si chiami famiglia».)
So we begin to understand something, perhaps: that this story about the party may be emerging from sources in and near the Vatican staunchly opposed to homosexual marriage — in keeping with traditional Catholic teaching — and opposed to all those in the Vatican who have ever indicated support for same-sex unions.
The story spread further, and as it spread, new details were added.
By July 5, for example, The Daily Mail of London writes, and I put the whole story into italics below (link):
Vatican police ‘break up drug-fuelled gay orgy at home of secretary of one of Pope Francis’s key advisers’
Raid at flat belonging to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Occupant of flat was allegedly secretary to Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio
Coccopalmerio heads Pontifical Council for Legislative texts and is a key adviser to the Pope
By Julian Robinson for MailOnline
Vatican police have broken up a gay orgy at the home of the secretary to one of Pope Francis’s key advisers, it has been reported.
The flat belonged to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is in charge of tackling clerical sexual abuse.
When police showed up, they found drugs and a group of men engaged in sexual activity, local reports state.
Reports in Italy claim the occupant of the apartment is allegedly the secretary to Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio — a key aide to the 80-year-old Pope.
So the new elements here are that the party was a “gay orgy” and that when the Vatican police raided the apartment, they found “a group of men engaged in sexual activity.”
Where does this information come from?
The author attributes it to “local reports,” but there are no local reports that report “a group of men engaged in sexual activity.”
So what is the source for this information?
Without any source given, this information, which does not appear in the very first Italian stories, may be simply invented.
The interpretation of this story is various, but in most cases it is quite negative for Pope Francis himself.
In other words, the media, which throughout this pontificate have praised Francis for his good heart, his openness, his mercy and love for the weak and the poor, have begun to treat the Pope differently.
For example, Philip Willan in the The Australian (link) wrote of “the party” on July 5:
“The incident is symptomatic of a difficult period for the Pope. Four years into his papacy his reforms should be at full throttle; instead, the Catholic Church appears racked by conflict and scandal.”
Willan continued: “Critics blame the Pope’s choice of personnel: cardinal George Pell, appointed to clean up the Vatican’s murky finances, has taken a leave of absence to defend himself against sex abuse charges in Australia, and cardinal Gerhard Mueller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has not had his tenure renewed. Both men are seen as doctrinal conservatives who could have been an obstacle to the Pope’s efforts to introduce a more merciful approach on questions of marriage, divorce and communion… ‘Resistance to the Pope is growing,’ said a Vatican source. ‘We have seen five troubling stories emerge in a matter of a few days. They have created turbulence. There’s not going to be a schism, but the Pope has lost credibility in the eyes of many… Paradoxically, these setbacks are pushing the Pope to accelerate his reforms, while resistance increases. Many Catholics pretend he’s not there and (will) just wait until he’s gone.”
And Willan ends with this brief sentence: “Vatican spokesman Greg Burke declined to comment.”
Then, the reporting on this story became yet stranger.
On July 7, The Daily Beast, an American internet news agency, ran a story which added new details, without any sources named. (link)
First, the article reports that it was the Swiss Guard, not the Vatican Gendarmes, who raided the apartment; this is a mistake, no other source reports this, and if there is a mistake like this in the headline, one may expect to find others in the body of the story…
Here are just a few passages from this story, with my notes in brackets:
The Vatican’s Swiss Guards Break Up a Drug-Fueled Gay Orgy in Pope Francis’ Backyard
Nosy neighbors are never a good thing. Especially if you are a monsignor hosting orgies and your neighbors are cardinals.
by Barbie Latza Nadeau
July 7, 2017
ROME—It all started with the usual complaints from disgruntled neighbors: funny smells, slamming doors, loud music, the sound of squeaky beds and laughter late into the night. [Editor’s note: This is all made up; no source given for any of this.]…
But this particular dispute occurred in one of the most prestigious addresses in Rome, the so-called Ex Sant’Uffizio Palace, in the very apartment owned by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith where Joseph Ratzinger lived for decades before becoming Pope Benedict XVI. [Editor’s note: Joseph Ratzinger did not live here “for decades”; he lived in the Campo Teutonico and in the Piazza della Citta Leonina, near St. Anne’s Gate.]
The palatial ochre-colored building is home to dozens of high-ranking cardinals who live within walking distance of their jobs at the Roman Curia in Vatican City next door. [Editor’s note: Not “dozens”; less than one dozen; another exaggeration.]
The fed-up neighbors were simply sick of what they described as a “steady stream of young men” who frequented Ratzinger’s former apartment, which had been given to Monsignor Luigi Capozzi, the secretary for Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, who heads the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, which busies itself with deciphering and clarifying various points of canon law. [Editor’s note: There is no source given for this quote about a “steady stream of young men”]
So they called the cops, in this case the Vatican’s elite Swiss Guard gendarmerie unit, when the noise and movida nightlife just got to be too much. [Editor’s note: No, not the Swiss Guard; the author is merging the Swiss Guard and the Gendarmes because she does not understand thet they are two different forces.]
The Vatican police showed up to find an orgy in progress, with an untold number of naked men allegedly writhing around the floor with Capozzi and his cohorts, who were apparently under the influence of hard drugs according to the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano which broke the story that a host of Italian and international media have since picked up. [Editor’s note: No one else has reported “an orgy in progress” or “naked men allegedly writhing around the floor”; these statements are not part of the Il Fatto Quotidiano story, text translated above; is there any source for them?]…
[End of Daily Beast story]
=====================
Who gave the order?
So what is the bottom line on this story?
I decided to ask Cardinal Coccopalmerio.
“What is the truth about the alleged gay orgy in the apartment of your secretary, broken up by the Gendarmes?” I asked him on July 26, two days ago.
He looked exhausted and much smaller than he was four years ago, when some were speaking of him as a possible candidate to be Pope.
“There was a party in the apartment, but there was no orgy,” the cardinal said. “Those reports are a lie. And even if there would have been such a thing, the behavior of the Gendarmes, entering a private apartment as they did, is unacceptable…”
A peculiar answer. So were the reports of a “gay orgy” and bodies “writhing on the floor” simply invented? Coccopalmerio says they were, that such reports are simply lies.
And his answer does raise a question: Who did order the apartment to be raided as it was, leading eventually to the unveiling of this entire sordid story, throughout the world, and evidently with many exaggerations, as possibly might have been foreseen? Was it simply by chance? Did the commander of the Gendarmes just say to himself that night, “tonight we put an end to this partying”? Or was the decision taken over a longer period of time, as might be suspected, if there had been reports of “comings and goings” into and out of the Palace of the Holy Office (as there evidently had been) for some time? Was there some reason for the decision at this time? If so, what was it?
===================
Attack The Brother
The other story in these days concerns the allegation that, during the past 40 years, more than 500 of the choristers in the famous Regensburg boys’ choir suffered some form of abuse. What is the truth of these charges, and why were they reiterated now?
(to be continued)
Facebook Comments