A 40-year-old priest from Italy has been placed under house arrest after allegations have surfaced that he had embezzled more than $117,000 from his parish funds, to finance gay sex parties and the purchase of date rape drug GHB. Father Francesco Spagnesi, a former medical student who became a highly regarded Roman Catholic priest from Prato […]
Read MoreThe Vatican Bank is undergoing yet another series of reforms in an effort to shed the scandals of the past. Jules Gray looks at the history of the Catholic Church’s troubled financial arm Cardinal George Pell during a sermon at the Papal Basilica of St Paul’s Cathedral in Rome, Italy BANKINGAuthor: Jules GraySeptember 5, 2014 Top 5 […]
Read MoreFrance’s Prime Minister Jean Castex has been received in Rome this Monday by Pope Francis amid shocking revelations of sexual abuse and a “secrecy of confession” controversy that have shaken the French Catholic Church to its core. Castex’s visit to the Vatican this Monday morning had been overshadowed by reactions following the publication of the conclusions of the Independent Commission on […]
Read MoreCardinal Angelo Becciu is one of ten individuals facing charges such as extortion, abuse of office and fraud. The indictment relates to a €350 million investment in a London real estate venture. The once-powerful head of the Catholic Church’s saint-making office faces trial over a €350 million ($415 million) investment in a London real estate venture, the Holy […]
Read MoreThe recent outing of gay priests by a male prostitute has shocked the Italian Church and prompted several dioceses to address the issue of homosexual activity among their clergy. Francesco Mangiacapra, a former lawyer who works as a prostitute, announced recently that in late February he forwarded to the Regional Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Campania a […]
Read MoreThe Church is one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic. Whenever we violate these marks of the Church, we abuse the Church. Acts of Church abuse are increasing. In 2017, Father Antonio Spadaro, an Italian Jesuit—often identified as “the Pope’s mouthpiece”—defended the theological ambiguities of Amoris Laetitia. “Theology is not mathematics,” he said, adding, “2 + 2 in […]
Read MoreBy Avi Jorisch Italian prosecutors have now detained the former head of the Vatican’s bank after searching his home and former office for suspected criminal behavior. Catholics and followers of the Holy See will be disappointed to learn that the Vatican’s bank appears to be embroiled in yet another financial scandal. After a number of very embarrassing […]
Read MoreVATICAN CITY – The latest – and most serious – wave of pedophilia and cover-up allegations to hit the Vatican is shining a new light on the gap dividing the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. And almost none of it is about the charges of widespread clerical abuse scandals. Dozens of commentators and Vatican watchers have […]
Read MoreIt is no secret that the Vatican has been sweeping the issue of pedophilia under the rug for many years. As many of my readers know, I provide a vivid, albeit fictional, account of the Church’s ‘conspiracy of silence’ in my recent clergy abuse legal thriller, “Betrayal of Faith.” But, fact can often mirror fiction- in 2014, […]
Read MorePlans to hold a mass in memory of a suspected mafia boss have sparked a scandal in Italy, with a parish priest planning to appeal to Pope Francis after authorities banned the ceremony. “Sinners deserve God’s mercy,” Father Michele delle Foglie told several newspapers Wednesday. After a request from the family of Rocco Sollecito, 67, […]
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