Vatican guard drops gay bomb

Vatican: A former Swiss Guard commander has alleged that there exists a network of homosexuals within the Vatican.

Swiss Guards are a small elite force whose job is to protect the Pope.

Elmar Mäder, who was commandant of the force from 2002 until 2008, said his time at the heart of the Vatican had given him an insight into certain aspects of life there.

“I cannot refute the claim that there is a network of homosexuals. My experiences would indicate the existence of such a thing,” he told the Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag.

But he refused to comment on speculation that he had warned guardsmen about the behaviour of certain priests. Earlier this month, the same newspaper reported the claims of a former, unnamed member of the Guard that he had been the target of more than 20 “unambiguous sexual requests” from clergy while serving in the force.

“A working environment in which the great majority of men are unmarried is per se a draw for homosexuals, whether they consciously seek it out or unconsciously follow an urge,” he was quoted as saying.

Though the Catholic Church does not condemn gays,  the catechism teaches that homosexual acts are “objectively disordered” and calls gay people to abstinence. Mr Mäder, who does not have a problem with homosexuality, said he feared that a network or secret society of gay people within the Vatican could pose security problems.   —