Church warns gay priests about 'double lives'

The Italian Catholic church today told gay priests not to lead a “double life” after a magazine article showed priests frequenting homosexual clubs in Rome.

The Roman Catholic Rome diocese said no one was forcing homosexual prelates to remain as priests.

It said “we don’t want to hurt them” but their conduct “muddies the reputation of all the others”.

The weekly 'Panorma' magazine said it interviewed several gay priests in Rome and accompanied them to clubs frequented by homosexuals in the capital. It quoted one as saying that 98% of the priests he knew were gay.

The Rome diocese said the article was aimed at defaming the church.