Vatican police have broken up a gay orgy at the home of the secretary to one of Pope Francis's key advisers, it has been reported.Although the apartment, per the reports, is owned by the CDF, the secretary who lives there is in a different dicastery, and it isn't clear if anyone at all from the CDF was at the party, though it can't be excluded, and I imagine that the people who work at the curia all socialize with each other.The flat belonged to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is in charge of tackling clerical sexual abuse.
Reports in Italy claim the occupant of the apartment is allegedly the secretary to Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio - a key aide to the 80-year-old Pope.
Coccopalmerio heads the Pontifical Council for Legislative texts and was said to have once recommended his secretary for a promotion to bishop.
At first I thought this might be a direct explanation for Cardinal Müller's non-renewal, but presumably Pope Francis made the decision well before this news. The only general conclusion I can draw is that if people at the CDF tend to party themselves blind, they can't be very effective at any real work they might be expected to do.
That in turn raises the question of what concrete things the CDF has accomplished under Cardinal Müller other than a rather indifferent implementation of Anglicanorum coetibus. A task one might set to the staff, assuming they aren't too bleary from last night's party, would be to re-examine the assumptions behind Anglican outreach and evaluate whether it's a project worth continuing.
I have some ideas that I'll outline tomorrow. If any party animals in Rome want to crib them, that's fine with me!
