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Friday, Feb 22, 2013 1:12 PM UTC

Pope resignation linked to gay Vatican officials inquiry

Italian newspaper reports that Benedict XVI resigned the day he received a dossier on blackmail and scandal

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Topics: Pope Benedict XVI, homosexuality, Vatican, Scandal,

Pope resignation linked to gay Vatican officials inquiryPope Benedict XVI greets the faithful at the end of the Ash Wednesday mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a solemn period of 40 days of prayer and self-denial leading up to Easter. Pope Benedict XVI told thousands of faithful Wednesday that he was resigning for "the good of the church", an extraordinary scene of a pope explaining himself to his flock that unfolded in his first appearance since dropping the bombshell announcement. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)(Credit: AP)

Italian newspaper La Repubblica has published a report linking Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation to a Vatican scandal involving gay prelates and blackmail. Flagging the report this morning, the Guardian noted:

The paper said the pope had taken the decision on 17 December that he was going to resign – the day he received a dossier compiled by three cardinals delegated to look into the so-called “Vatileaks” affair…

According to La Repubblica, the dossier comprising “two volumes of almost 300 pages – bound in red” had been consigned to a safe in the papal apartments and would be delivered to the pope’s successor upon his election.

The newspaper said the cardinals described a number of factions, including one whose members were “united by sexual orientation”.

In an apparent quotation from the report, La Repubblica said some Vatican officials had been subject to “external influence” from laymen with whom they had links of a “worldly nature”. The paper said this was a clear reference to blackmail.

Benedict XVI — the first pope to voluntarily step down in seven centuries — had reportedly ordered the investigation in response to the “Vatileaks” scandal, which culminated with the arrest and subsequent conviction last year of the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, found guilty of having stolen confidential documents from the papal apartment. The Guardian reported that the pope’s spokesman “declined to confirm or deny the report” from La Repubblica that the resignation was linked to the gay prelate inquiry. “Since announcing his departure he has twice apparently referred to machinations inside the Vatican, saying that divisions ‘mar the face of the church,’ and warned against ‘the temptations of power’,” the Guardian noted.

 

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com. More Natasha Lennard.

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