ROME
International Business Times
By Ewan Palmer
March 12, 2013
The Catholic Church is facing further controversy over reports that it has spent €23m (£20m) for a share of an apartment block in Rome that also houses Europe’s biggest gay sauna.
As cardinals gathered for the conclave to select a new pope, the Vatican faced fresh embarrassment after it emerged that it had paid for up to 20 apartments for priests in the building in 2008. It is believed Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Pope Benedict’s former right-hand man, was behind the purchase.
The huge stone building also contains the Europa Multiclub Sauna and Gym, which claims on its website to be “the number one gay sauna in Italy”.
Cardinal Ivan Dias, the head of the Congregation for Evangelisation of Peoples, stays in a 12-room apartment on the first floor of the building, just above the entrance to the sauna.
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