AN Italian magazine report which sought to prove that what some priests tell Catholics in the confessional is not always what the Church preaches in public has enraged the Vatican.
To write the cover story in this week's L'Espresso, reporter Riccardo Bocca visited 24 churches in five large Italian cities and confessed sins he never committed or invented ethical dilemmas for the priest.
In one confessional in Naples he told the priest he felt guilty over his father's death after the family allowed a doctor secretly to detach a respirator. The father had for years been paralysed, confined to a bed and unable to breathe autonomously.
Although euthanasia is officially condemned by the Church, the priest told him not to worry too much because God would be the ultimate arbiter.
"If I had a wife, a father or a son who for years was alive only because of artificial life support, I would pull the plug too," said the priest, who then gave him absolution.
In another confessional box he faked being HIV positive and was told by a priest that whether or not he used a condom in order not to pass the virus to the woman he loved was "a very personal matter of conscience".
On homosexuality, one priest told him: "Well, homosexuality is a tendency which is a valid human expression. There are even homosexual priests and lesbian nuns."
Asked if he should openly declare his homosexuality, the priest told him: "Generally the best thing to do is to be yourself. Come clean. Do what the English call 'coming out'."
Apart from abortion - which all 24 priests unanimously condemned - he received conflicting advice on moral issues such as divorce, stem cell research and prostitution.
(Snip, full article here)
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