Vatican official suspended after hidden camera report on gay priests

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 26, 2007 by John L. Allen, Jr.

ROME -- A monsignor in the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy has been suspended after being caught on hidden camera in a recent Italian TV broadcast about gays in the priesthood. He and other priests made contact with a young man posing as a potential "date" in gay-oriented Web sites and chat rooms, and then arranged for meetings the priests apparently believed would lead to sexual encounters.

In the wake of the disclosures, Msgr. Tommaso Stenico claims that he was only pretending to be gay to uncover what he described as plots to damage the church by targeting vulnerable priests with homosexual tendencies.

Stenico, 60, has served in the Vatican since 1982. His current assignment is capo ufficio, or "head of the office," within the Congregation for Clergy with special responsibility for catechesis. He's also a fixture in the Italian Catholic media, and has published several books on spiritual and catechetical subjects.

On Oct. 1, the Italian television program "Exit" broadcast separate encounters recorded using a hidden camera with three priests and a young man secretly working for the TV program. The voices and faces were disguised, but one of the priests was clearly a Vatican official, since the camera showed the priest and the young man entering an elevator inside one of the office buildings used by the Roman curia, and also showed the outer door of the Congregation for Clergy. After some conversation in his Vatican office, the priest appears to try to initiate a sexual encounter, but pulls away when the young man expresses doubts.

Vatican authorities quickly flagged Stenico as the priest and suspended him. He could face other disciplinary consequences.

"I can't deny the facts," said Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardio, Vatican spokesperson, responding to reporters. Vatican authorities "must intervene with the severity demanded by behavior that is not compatible with priestly service and with the mission of the Holy See," he said.

A statement from Stenico appeared Oct. 15 on the Italian Catholic Web site "Petrus." Stenico said that his aim in pretending to be gay was to understand this world, not to participate in it.

--John L. Allen Jr., NCR senior correspondent