Posted on 03/12/2015 3:19:12 PM PDT by NYer
ROME — An Italian newspaper came under fire from the Catholic Church on Thursday for publishing details of priestly advice given to an undercover reporter posing as an ordinary parishioner during secret confession.
"I find this perverse from the point of view of professional ethics, and unspeakable from a human point of view," the segretary general of the Italian Bishops' Conference, Monsignor Nunzio Galantino, said in Rome.
A day earlier, the Archbishop of Bologna Carlo Caffarra, speaking on behalf of other bishops from the northern Emilia-Romagna region, issued "the strongest protest" against "serious violation" of a Catholic sacrament.
The editor of Il Resto Del Carlino, Andrea Cangini, said protests were understandable, but said his paper wanted to investigate "in the most truthful and unprecedented way the extent to which grassroot priests' sensitivities coincide with Pope Francis'."
Undercover journalist Laura Alari wrote four articles. In one, posted on her blog on Wednesday, she pretended to be a divorced woman with a new partner, seeking advice on whether it was a grave sin to keep taking Holy Communion.
Alari - who describes herself as a Catholic - wrote that the priest who confessed her suggested she could change parish so as "not to create a scandal," and asked her to consider seeking the annulment of her failed marriage from a Catholic court - a costly procedure.
He was also quoted as telling her that it was up to her conscience how to behave.
"I am telling you what the Church is asking, but at the end it is you who must make a choice," the prelate reportedly said.
"It's clear that from my position, I will never tell you that you can take the communion, as long as the church recognizes only one matrimony. But I will never tell you either that you cannot take it," he reportedly added.
Softening the church's ban on the Holy Communion for divorcees is a hot topic at the Vatican. World bishops rowed over the issue last month, and are due to take up the matter again in October and possibly recommend reforms to Pope Francis.
Ping!
Italians are in a self destructive mode. They are no longer having children and are abandoning their Christian cultural heritage. Decadence rules.
Hey, let’s have somebody hire on at a “real” media outlet and leak their internal discussions to (a) the public or (b) the government. What could possibly go wrong?
Wonderful!....
Bad, Sloppy, hypocritical priests will be exposed and the really curious will see this little dark room doesn’t engage in torture or emotional abuse or sex.
God will use this evil too for greater good. Always does.
Look at all the tongues wagging over Francis being always spun by left and right media? Only those of little faith see their faith crushed and feel ashamed for it, while so many more are opening their ears to hear him out. Yes, they are both groups being duped into error, but the Truth will eventually set them on the right path back to a greater faith.
I know something that would be surprising, have this woman go undercover with some muslins, lie to their faces and then blog about it!
I have a dumb question...if she fabricated her confession...
How do we know she reported accurately and truthfully?
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