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A Latin Expert’s Odyssey, From the Vatican to the Gay Rights MovementPALERMO, Italy — Years after he lost his dream job in the Vatican’s Latin department, left the priesthood, came out as gay, went public with sensational accounts of rampant sex among clergy in Rome and reinvented himself as a gay rights activist and journalist with a column in Latin, Francesco Lepore returned to the Vatican to discuss a new gig.In November, Mr. Lepore, 45, accepted an invitation to the office of Andrea Tornielli, the Vatican’s influential editorial director, who complimented him profusely on his Latin and asked if he...

[Catholic Caucus] McCarrick Case. The Question Was There, But Francis Didn’t Want To Hear It In the new curia in the process of being reshaped, the biggest new development is perhaps the dicastery for communication, in terms of both how it is structured and how it now functions.Its structure centralizes within itself the control of all Vatican media, including “L’Osservatore Romano,” the radio and TV, which previously were subject in everything to the “supervision” of the Vatican secretariat of state, while now this has been left with only the bureaucratic task of “giving guidelines concerning official communications.”As for its functioning,...

Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, director of the Vatican Press Office, met today with reporters to answer questions concerning yesterday’s surprising announcement of the Holy Father’s impending resignation. Catholic News Service has a very thorough report on the meeting, which yielded many interesting details about Pope Benedict’s decision and what the coming weeks will hold; that story can be read here. Vatican Radio’s report on Lombardi’s remarks is here. Some items of particular interest: — Father Lombardi confirmed that Pope Benedict has a pacemaker, and that it was put in before his election to the papacy. He also confirmed that Benedict...