[BRIEF NOTE] Power hides secrets, but not very well

[rfmcdonald]

Remember when I was writing about Spokane mayor Jim West, the intersection of his homophobia and his chatting on gay.com, and the reasons that this intersection justified outing him? I think this principle is eminently scalable.

I visited the Vatican in early August and met a person who is deeply "embedded" in the world of those who run Vatican City and who govern the global machinery of the Catholic Church.

According to this person's estimation, he guesses that a "conservative estimate" of those cardinals and senior church officials who are gay is about 50%. Practicing, as opposed to just flirtatious, homosexuals at the highest levels of the church are probably about 30%.

When I asked whether homosexuals would be better served under Pope Benedict XVI than under John Paul II, he responded, "Don't think that we will be any better served under a gay pope than a straight one."

While there wasn't much love lost between Pope John Paul II and the homosexual community, John Paul didn't spend his every waking moment thinking about how to screw over the gay community. This very-connected individual I got to know in Italy had a different view (let's just leave it at that) of Benedict XVI.

I'm just happy that I don't have any religious faith to lose now.