The Vatican has suspended a high-ranking Catholic cleric from the Holy See after he talked about gay sex on Italian television during an anonymous interview.
The Italian monsignor, a title given to senior Vatican officials, said he "didn't feel he was sinning" by having sexual relations with men, Rome daily La Repubblica said on Saturday.
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, told reporters that while the case is under investigation, the priest is suspended from his duties as a top official in the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy -- an office charged with ensuring priests conduct themselves according to Church teachings.
"The case is being handled with utmost reserve," Lombardi said Saturday.
A number of priests were interviewed with their faces obscured and their voices altered during the program that aired on Italiam television on Oct. 1.
During a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Msgr. Tommaso Stenico confirmed he was suspended. "Don't condemn me,'' Stenico said on Saturday.
He maintains the interview "was done fraudulently'' because it used a hidden camera to fillm the program.
Holy See officials identified the monsignor after they recognized the Vatican office in which he was being interviewed, La Repubblica reported.
Lombardi said the Vatican "had to intervene decisively and severely in a case of behaviour incompatible with priestly duty and the mission of the Holy See".
The Holy See, as it is referred to in international relations, is the central government of the Catholic Church headed by the Pope.
The Catholic Church does not consider homosexual leanings sinful but condemns homosexual acts because they "go against the natural moral law."
The Church also has had a long-standing policy against homosexual priests. A 1961 document dictates that homosexuals should be barred from entering the priesthood.
In November 2005, the Vatican published guidelines that reaffirmed active homosexuals and gay supporters could not be admitted into the priesthood.
However, would-be clerics who demonstrated their homosexual tendencies were a "transitory problem" would be allowed to enter into seminaries. Men who could prove they overcame their gay persuasions for a period of at least three years would be allowed into holy orders.
The five-page document called "The Instruction" was issued by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education and makes no mention of priests currently in service.
In 2003, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would later become the Pope, described homosexuality as a "troubling moral and social phenomenon."
While homosexual acts are not condoned by the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican acknowledges that discrimination based on sexual orientation is not justified.
With files from The Associated Press
