Pope Francis said a “gay lobby” exists inside
the Vatican, a surprising disclosure from a pope who has already delivered his
share of stunners, and a resurrection of church conflicts that had bedeviled
his predecessor’s papacy. “In the Curia,” Francis said, referring to
Catholicism’s central bureaucracy, “there are holy people. But there is also a
stream of corruption.”
“The ‘gay lobby’ is mentioned, and it is true,
it is there,” Francis continued. “We need to see what we can do.” Hints that
the Holy See contained a network of gay clergy surfaced last year in reports
about a series of embarrassing leaks to Italian journalists.
The “Vatileaks” scandal factored in Pope
Emeritus Benedict XIV’s shocking decision to resign earlier this year,
according to some church experts, as it impressed upon the 86-year-old pontiff
that the modern papacy requires a vigorous and watchful presence.
