Lima, Peru, Jun 12, 2013 / 09:45 am
In response to media flurry, the Latin American Confederation of Men and Women Religious (CLAR) released a statement on June 11 claiming that the assertion of a gay lobby at the Vatican "cannot be attributed with certainty to the Holy Father."
The news that Pope Francis acknowledged the existence of a gay lobby at the Vatican was published on Monday by the left-leaning Chilean Catholic portal "Reflexión y liberación" (Reflection and Liberation), claiming that it was an "exclusive" account of the private meeting between Pope Francis and the CLAR presidency, held on June 6.
According to "Reflexión y liberación," Pope Francis told CLAR members that "there are holy people in the curia, truly, there are holy people. But there is also a current (stream) of corruption, there is one, it is true… there are words about a 'gay lobby,' and it is true, it is there… we have to see what can we do (about it)."
The same source claims that the Pope also said that "the reform of the Roman curia is something that almost all of us cardinals requested during the congregations previous to the conclave. I also did. I cannot personally make that reform, with these managerial issues... I am too unorganized; I have never been good at that. But the Cardinals of the committee will carry it out."