ROME
ANSA
(ANSA) – Rome, January 20 – A centre-right gay advocacy group on Monday said the alleged existence of a gay lobby in the Vatican is less a threat to the church than hypocrisy.
“I would call the lobby of cardinals preaching against gays and their rights and then hitting on Swiss guards a lobby of hypocrites,” said Enrico Oliari, the founder of GayLib, a self-styled LGBT, liberal-democratic and centre-right association dating back to 1997.
This follows an interview that appeared in a Swiss magazine on Sunday in which a former Swiss Guard commander alleged that a gay lobby he says is operating within the Vatican constitutes a security risk to Pope Francis. “I know from personal experience the gay lobby exists,” Elmar Maeder told Swiss weekly Schweiz am Sonntag. “It is made up of people so loyal to one another they’re practically a secret society. When loyalty is in question, it becomes a security risk”.
Maeder, 51, led what is the world’s oldest and smallest army from 2002-2008.
A former Swiss guard told the same magazine he was propositioned by a cardinal and by another high Vatican official while on his tour of duty in the Vatican.
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