Vatican

The Pope isn’t going to live in luxury apparently..but the questions remain about whether or not he will do anything about the boy buggering inside the Catholic Church:

Pope Francis has announced he will be staying in the Vatican’s guesthouse, rather than moving into the vast palace used as the official papal residence.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the new pontiff would remain in the 120-room guesthouse among other members of the clergy “until further notice”.

“He is trying out this type of simple living with other priests,” Father Lombardi said, without saying when, or even if, the Pope would move into the papal residence.

“This morning he let his fellow cardinals know that he will keep living with them for a certain period of time.”

Read more »

via dish.andrewsullivan.com

Andrew Sullivan writes

The damage Benedict XVI has done to the Catholic church and the papacy may be far from over. All I can say about yesterday’s developments is that they seem potentially disastrous and also indicative to me of something truly weird going on underneath all of this.

Benedict XVI has claimed that his almost unprecedented resignation came about simply because of his physical infirmity in the face of what appears to be a growing vortex of sexual and financial scandal inside the Vatican. He said he would quietly disappear to serve the church through prayer and meditation. But we now realize he’s going nowhere. He’s staying in the Vatican’s walls, and retaining the honorific “His Holiness.” He will keep white robes. His full title will be Pope Emeritus. Far from wearing clerical black, returning to the title of Bishop of Rome, and disappearing into a monastery in Bavaria, he’s going to be a shadow Pope in the Vatican. And this, we are told, was his decision:   Read more »

via the tipline

Its the buses that are taking out all the Kiwi. This one has accounted for 75 alone, and the bugger is proud of it too:

Clearly we need to ban all buses to protect our native environment. And don’t get me started on trains – if they are not taking out native species then it’s defenseless women in wheel chairs. Ban them.  Read more »

Like him or loath him, he’s made a success of his brand of humour.

Here he is on Twitter

Read more »

The Vatican has been hit by a gay sex scandal. Why it has taken this long is beyond me.

The Vatican was today rocked by a sex scandal reaching into Pope Benedict’s household after a chorister was sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for a papal gentleman-in-waiting.

Angelo Balducci, a Gentleman of His Holiness, was caught by police on a wiretap allegedly negotiating with Thomas Chinedu Ehiem, a 29-year-old Vatican chorister, over the specific physical details of men he wanted brought to him. Transcripts in the possession of the Guardian suggest that numerous men may have been procured for Balducci, at least one of whom was studying for the priesthood.

The explosive claims about Balducci’s private life have caused grave embarrassment to the Vatican, which has yet to publicly comment on the affair.

[snigger]

In January this year, the Carabinieri recorded an exchange in which Balducci and Ehiem discuss a seminarian, or student for the priesthood. Balducci is said to have asked: “Listen, have you spoken with the seminarian by any chance?” Ehiem says he is “probably at mass or something”. On 11 January, Ehiem calls again to recommend “a colleague, a friend” of the seminarian because the latter is unavailable. He says the colleague is “better, taller, a bit taller than you”. Later, Ehiem asks: “Can I send [him] around straight away?”

He asks where Balducci is. The adviser says: “Up at the seminary … where the cardinal lives.” Ehiem replies: “He could get there within half an hour … the time it takes to catch a taxi and get there.”

[snort]

And DPF thinks links to Goat Sex and Penguin Sex get him traffic.