A new scandal is rocking the Vatican as police recently raided a drugs and gay sex party at a cardinal's apartment near the city.

Without revealing the name of the occupant of the apartment, police said that the person is believed to be a priest who serves as a secretary to cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, the head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative texts and a personal adviser to Pope Francis.

According to Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano which first published the news, police raided the apartment in June after complaints from neighbours who reported unusual behaviour among people visiting the apartment.

The newspaper quoted the police as saying that they found drugs and a group of men engaged in sexual activity when they entered the apartment.

The police have arrested the priest and taken him for questioning, presumably on drugs charges. It is not a criminal offence to engage in private same-sex activity in Vatican City.

The apartment belongs to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, whose duties include investigating clerical sexual abuse.

Coccopalmerio had reportedly recommended his aide for promotion to bishop, but that consideration may be put on hold following this incident and two previous alleged drug overdoses.

Meanwhile, the Pope is under huge pressure from sex abuse scandals involving Vatican churches, priests and cardinals. The latest are charges of child sex abuse against cardinal George Pell, who will return to Australia to stand trial. The Pope's critics have reportedly blamed him for picking wrong people for key positions.

It's a man's life at the Vatican ! Drug-fuelled gay sex orgy hosted at Papal apartments by top priest https://t.co/KW3eaEFwSu — Mike Carlton (@MikeCarlton01) July 5, 2017</s>Police entered an apartment where a priest lived. The priest reportedly serves as a secretary to Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, the head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative texts.

An Italian newspaper said police raided the apartment in June after complaints from neighbors who reported unusual behavior.

The police reportedly found drugs and several men having sex when they entered the apartment. The priest was reported on suspicion of drug offenses.

Sex between men in private is not a criminal offense in Italy or in the Vatican City, which is a nominally independent state within the city of Rome.

The apartment reportedly belonged to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which investigates sexual abuse by priests.

Cardinal Coccopalmerio had reportedly recommended the priest for promotion to bishop but that has now been put on hold.

The incident is symptomatic of a difficult period for the Pope.

He remains under huge pressure as a result of sex abuse involving the Roman Catholic Church.

The Pope's critics have reportedly blamed him for picking the wrong people for key positions.

In June, Cardinal George Pell, the highest-ranking Catholic official in Australia, agreed to step down from his job as the Vatican's treasurer to return to Australia after being charged with multiple sexual offenses by Australian authorities.

"I stand by everything I've said at the royal commission [on child sexual abuse] and in other places. We have to respect due process, wait until it's concluded and obviously I'll continue to cooperate fully," he told reporters. He is to appear in court on July 18.

For decades, the Catholic Church has been subject to accusations from numerous activists, organizations and victims for not doing enough to fight pedophilia within its ranks.

In July 2014, Pope Francis referred to child sexual abuse as a "leprosy" that infects the Catholic Church, stating that one in every 50 Catholic priests is a pedophile.

In 2015, Pope Francis approved the creation of a tribunal to hear cases in which bishops have been accused of failing to prevent the sexual abuse of children and "vulnerable adults" by priests.</s>Vatican police have raided a cardinal’s apartment where a drug-fuelled homosexual orgy was taking place.

Police entered an apartment at the former palace of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (or Holy Office) last month, not far from the Vatican City.

The occupant of the apartment is alleged to be a priest who serves as a secretary to cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, the head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and a personal adviser to the Pope.

According to the paper, neighbours became suspicious before complaining about irregular behaviour of those coming and going at the apartment.</s>In a sordid new sex scandal, Vatican police raided the apartment of a 50-year-old priest, breaking up a gay orgy fueled by drugs and alcohol.

During last week’s blitz, Msgr. Luigi Capozzi, assistant to Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, was arrested by the Vatican gendarmerie and sent briefly to a Roman clinic for drug detox. The priest, a native of Salerno, is currently on retreat at an unspecified convent in Italy.

Capozzi’s apartment where the raid took place is in the palace of the Sant’Uffizio within the Vatican City, where a number of high-ranking prelates have lived, including then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before being elected Pope.

Theories abound regarding who tipped off the police concerning the sordid affair, but reports suggest that Capozzi had made a number of enemies. According to local media, the apartment where Capozzi lived—the scene of the raid—was never supposed to be assigned to a mere secretary of a department head, but was reserved for higher level prelates of the Roman Curia.

Discontent had been brewing as well because Capozzi had somehow come into possession of a car with the license plate of the Holy See, another privilege reserved for prelates. This car would also allow its owner to transport drugs without being stopped by the Italian police, a fact employed in reconstructing possible scenarios behind last week’s events.

The priest is considered an “ardent supporter of Pope Francis” and according to his Linked-in account is an “expert in canon law and dogmatic theology.”

Reports of a “gay lobby” within the Vatican have circulated for years.

Not long after his election, Pope Francis acknowledged the existence of a gay lobby, suggesting he would try to root it out.

“In the Curia there are holy people, it’s true, there are holy people,” Francis said in June, 2013. “But there is also a current of corruption, this as well, it’s true. People talk about a ‘gay lobby’ and it is true. It exists and we will have to see what we can do about it.”

For his part, Pope Benedict XVI revealed in his 2016 memoirs titled Last Testament that a “gay lobby” within the Vatican had tried to influence his decisions, but that he thought he had managed to “break up this power group.”

According to Reuters, the idea of a gay lobby in Vatican would allegedly refer to a group of homosexuals who have “banded together to support each other’s careers and influence decisions in the bureaucracy.”

In October, 2015, a homosexual priest working undercover in the Vatican’s doctrinal office organized a media blitz in which he publicly outed himself, just a day before an international Vatican synod on marriage and the family was scheduled to begin.

Msgr. Kryzstof Charamsa had prepared a “manifesto of liberation” for the occasion, consisting of a list of ten “demands,” in which he insisted that the Catholic Church had to change its teaching on the morality of gay sex as well as its interpretation of the Bible as condemning sodomy.

The priest had apparently been biding his time, going to work every day and pronouncing doctrinal judgments on the work of other theologians, while all the time harboring resentment toward the Church and plotting his revenge for its “homophobia.”

Prior to last week’s raid, Msgr. Capozzi was reportedly slated to become a bishop, but the nomination has since been halted by the Pope himself.</s>(NZHerald) – Vatican police have raided a cardinal’s apartment where a drug-fueled homosexual orgy was taking place.

Police entered an apartment at the former palace of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (or Holy Office) last month not far from the Vatican City.

The occupant of the apartment is alleged to be a priest who serves as a secretary to cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, the head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative texts and a personal adviser to the pope.</s>Vatican police raided a drug-fueled gay sex party at the apartment of an aide to one of Pope Francis’ key advisers, according to an explosive new report.

The Holy Father is “enraged,” since the home, inhabited by Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio’s secretary, belongs to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith — the arm charged with tackling clerical sex abuse, Italian paper Il Fatto Quotidiano reports.

Cops raided the apartment in late June after neighbors complained about multiple people visiting the apartment and acting strangely.

Inside, police said they found men getting high and getting it on, the paper reports.

They arrested the priest after taking him to a clinic to detox from the drugs he’d ingested — presumably on drugs charges, as gay sex isn’t illegal in Vatican City. He is now on a spiritual retreat in a convent in Italy, the paper reports.

Coccopalmerio had recommended his secretary for a promotion to bishop, but the prospects aren’t looking good following this incident and two previous alleged drug overdoses, according to an International Business Times report.

Pope Francis may force the cardinal into retirement, the Italian paper reports.

The scandal comes just a week after the Vatican was rocked by sex abuse allegations against high-ranking Cardinal George Pell.</s>Police respond to complaint of unusual activity at apartment owned by Catholic Church’s office for investigating sexual abuse

Vatican police, alerted to strange goings-on at an apartment in the city-state, stumbled upon a drug-fueled gay sex party in full swing and arrested one of the occupants, said to be an aide to a top adviser of Pope Francis.

The bust, which happened in late June, was first reported by the Italian daily newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

According to media, the apartment was owned by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office that processes and evaluates all cases of priests accused of raping or molesting minors. Days later Pope Francis removed the prefect who headed the congregation, although it was not known if it was due to the orgy.

Vatican City cops were called in after neighbors complained of “constant coming and going” from the apartment and other unusual behavior.

The arrested man, not named in media, was a secretary of Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio who is president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, which interprets laws for the Church.

Coccopalmerio had reportedly in the past recommended the aide for promotion to bishop.

Il Fatto Quotidiano said the pope was furious about the incident. The aide was taken for detox at a clinic and hospital and was said to be “currently in retreat” somewhere in Italy.

According to The Australian, the aide has previously spent time recovering from two incidents of drug overdose, once at a Rome hospital and another time in an Italian monastery. It was unclear what charges he may face as gay sex is not illegal in Vatican City.

Earlier this month Francis declined to renew the mandate of German Cardinal Gerhard Mueller as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handles sex abuse claims.

The measure came just days after France released another top Vatican cardinal to return home to stand trial for alleged sexual assault.

The developments underscore how the Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis has caught up with Francis, threatening to tarnish his legacy over a series of questionable appointments and decisions in his four-year papacy.

Francis named Mueller’s deputy, Monsignor Luis Ladaria Ferrer, a Spanish Jesuit, to run the powerful office instead.

During Mueller’s five-year term, the congregation amassed a 2,000-case backlog and came under blistering criticism from abuse survivors.

Last Thursday, Francis granted another Vatican hardliner, Cardinal George Pell, a leave of absence to return to his native Australia to face trial on multiple charges of sexual assault stemming from years ago.

Pell has denied the charges. Still, Francis has come under criticism for having named him to the powerful position of the Vatican’s money czar in 2014 in the first place, given that accusations of wrongdoing had dogged him even then. Pell has been widely denounced at home for mishandling abuse cases while he was a bishop and of having treated victims harshly in seeking to protect the church from abuse-related civil litigation.</s>Vatican Police have broken up a gay orgy at the residence of an advisor to Pope Francis, an Italian newspaper reports.

Local police officers entered the premises late last month after neighbours complained about strange happenings and frequent visitors to the address in Vatican City.

The apartment that was raided was being used by an aide to Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, and was allegedly full of men who were taking drugs and having sex. The priest who was residing in the property was arrested and taken to a drug detox clinic. The paper reports that the priest in question is now at a spiritual retreat in Italy.

Cardinal Coccopalmerio, is a key member of the Church’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, which oversees the investigation of clerical sex abuse. Pope Francis is said to be “enraged” by the incident.

The Cardinal may be forced to retire early as a result of the raid, despite the fact that he does not appear to have been directly involved.

Earlier this year, the Pope welcomed the openly gay Prime Minister of Luxembourg and his husband to the Vatican.

Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and his partner Gauthier Destenay, joined European heads of government for the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome last month.

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 Check out X-rated pictures from Greek’s Come True calendar (NSFW)</s>VATICAN police have raided the home of a cardinal, interrupting a drug-fuelled gay orgy.

When police showed up at the cardinal’s apartment, they reportedly found drugs and a group of men engaged in an orgy.

The occupant of the apartment, a priest who serves as a secretary to cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, was arrested and taken for questioning.

Newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano suggested Pope Francis is angered by the news and may force Coccopalmerio to retire.

The news comes after a number of years of scandals in the Catholic Church.

Cardinal George Pell has recently taken a leave of absence to defend himself against accusations of sexual abuse in Australia.

© Star Observer 2017 | For the latest in lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and intersex (LGBTI) news in Australia, be sure to visit starobserver.com.au daily. You can also read our latest magazines or Join us on our Facebook page and Twitter feed.</s>Reports from the Vatican indicates that the Police have raided a drug-fueled gay sex party at the residence of an aide to one of Pope Francis’s advisers.

It was gathered that the Pope is angered by the development since the apartment belongs to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith — the arm responsible for dealing with clerical sex abuse.

Recall that last month the police also raided the building following complains in the neigbourhood that strange persons have been coming there.

Further reports indicate that the police found men getting high and getting on when they raided the apartment.

The priest was arrested after he was detoxified of the drugs he took.

It was gathered that his arrest is unconnected to gay sex since it is legal in the Vatican.

The priest is now on a spiritual retreat in a convent in Italy.

Coccopalmerio had recommended his secretary for a promotion to bishop, but the possibilities are now fading away after the incident and two previous alleged drug overdoses.

Reports suggest that Pope Francis may force the cardinal into retirement as the scandal comes one week after the Vatican was hit by sex abuse accusations against high-ranking Cardinal, George Pell.
A priest is arrested and questioned over an alleged drug-induced gay orgy hosted in his apartment in the Vatican City.