Accuser: Convicted paedophile priest Don Patrizio Poggi who claims there was a rent boy ring at the Vatican
A convicted paedophile priest has
claimed a rent boy ring operated at the Vatican with clergymen hiring
teenagers for sex inside churches.
Don
Patrizio Poggi, 46, who served a five-year sentence for abusing five
boys aged 14 to 15, at his parish outside Rome, has given police a list
of nine names.
Four people
have been placed under investigation - including a monsignor who is
currently the secretary of an important bishop, it has been alleged.
Also
being investigated is a former Carabinieri policeman suspected of
recruiting under-age boys for the alleged prostitution ring.
The ex-officer apparently snared the teenagers, mostly eastern European immigrants, outside a gay bar named Twink
near Rome's Termini train station.
A
senior Vatican official has dismissed the allegations, accusing Poggi
of seeking revenge because the church refused to reinstate him.
Poggi, the former priest at the San
Filippo Neri church in Rome, said he made the allegations to 'protect
the Holy Church and the Christian community.'
The boys were chosen because they were starving and desperate, he claimed, according to Il Messaggero newspaper.
Faithful: The crowds in St Peter's Square
Vatican City: The disgraced priest has named nine clergymen he alleges
were involved in the prostitution ring
The former policeman allegedly
selected the victims as he sat in his Fiat Panda - marked 'Emergency
Blood' to avoid parking fines.
He
was helped by a friend who ran a modelling agency, luring underage boys
through 'false work offers for modelling and acting roles', Poggi said.
Scandal: Pope Francis has admitted there is a 'gay lobby' inside the Vatican
The agent also looked for victims at gay discos, saunas and gyms across Rome. An accountant was also said to be involved.
The boys were paid €150-€500 (£130-£425) to perform sex acts in church premises across the capital.
Poggi also accused the former Carabinieri of selling consecrated hosts for satanic rites.
When
he met the authorities, Poggi reportedly presented documentary and
photographic evidence in the company of two senior Vatican clergymen who
vouched for his credibility.
One
of the clergymen was Monsignor Luca Lorusso, an adviser to the Papal
Nuncio to Italy, who is himself a confidante of Pope Francis.
Poggi's list of names included two senior church officials and a religion lecturer.
Cardinal
Agostino Vallini, head of the Catholic Vicariate of Rome, accused Poggi
of making false claims out of a desire for vengeance and personal
resentment.
Vallini said:
'The cardinal expresses his full confidence in the magistracy and
declares himself full convinced that this slander will be demolished,
demonstrating Poggi's claims to be untrue
'God will hold everyone accountable for their deeds.'
The
controversy comes just weeks after Pope Francis confirmed the existence
of a 'gay lobby' in the Vatican to a visiting Latin American church
group.
The apparent
network inside the supposedly celibate and staunchly anti-homosexual
Church is one reason why Pope Francis is working on a thorough
house-cleaning of the Roman curia.
dailymail.co.uk
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