UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph
KATE SMURTHWAITE
6 JULY 2017
Police, we learnt yesterday, were reportedly called to break up a gay orgy. Which doesn’t make sense as a headline if you hit pause on the moral outrage button and remember that the gender and number of other people having sex is neither a legal matter nor any of your God damn business.
Although, there will be many who see this particular orgy as, quite literally, a God damn business – seeing as it allegedly took place at the home of one of Pope Francis’s key advisors in the Vatican.
The apartment raided is reportedly the residence of the secretary to cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio – a key aide to the 80-year-old Pope. It apparently belongs to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is in charge of tackling clerical sexual abuse. According to Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, the police found drugs and a group of men engaged in sexual activity.
It is also that time of year when newspapers are full of recommendations for holiday reading. So here’s one from me: Nigel Cawthorne’s memorable work The Sex Lives of the Popes. An utter page turner in our house; more salacious than Jilly Cooper or Fifty Shades; and guaranteed to get you the armrest on your budget flight.
The one thing you’ll soon realise when reading it, us that gay orgies are not new to the Vatican. Over the last couple of millennia, they’ve mainly served as a refreshing change from all the straight ones. Historians now widely accept that Pope Leo X (1513-1521) was homosexual – the Romans having been perplexed as to why he didn’t bring a mistress with him when took office.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.