ITALY: Hundreds Of Thousands Rally In Rome Against Same-Sex Marriage

Breitbart celebrates:

Hundreds of thousands of people travelled from all over Italy and Europe yesterday to protest against the proposed legalisation of gay marriage, and the teaching of ‘gender theories’ in schools. Gathering in the San Giovanni Square in Rome, with estimates of participants running from 300,000 to a million people, the protest put the ‘anti-Austerity’ protests held in London on the same day to shame, for sheer volume of people and absence of criminal behaviour. Attendees held aloft banners reading “The family will save the world” and “Let’s defend our children”, as Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi tries to push a civil union bill through parliament.

The call for Italy to keep pace with its western European neighbours on the issue has grown stronger since Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favour of gay marriage last month. But rights activists warn it will be no mean feat for the leader of the centre-left Democratic Party to find allies across the political spectrum, blaming an excessive influence of the Catholic clergy on the political class. Rejecting the assertion, Massimo Gandolfini, spokesman for the “Defend our children!” committee said: “We are asking for families based on marriage be respected, and stressing the central role parents play. We forcefully reject the attempt to sneak into the curriculum projects which aim to destroy children’s sexual identities”.

More from Yahoo News:

While a survey published by Italian daily La Stampa at the end of May found that 51 percent of voters would support gay marriage, protesters in Rome said the state should stop trying to interfere in sexual or gender education. "We are asking for families based on marriage be respected, and stressing the central role parents play. We forcefully reject the attempt to sneak into the curriculum projects which aim to destroy children's sexual identities," said Massimo Gandolfini, spokesman for the "Defend our children!" committee. There were both cries of support and derision from the political sphere.

Matteo Salvini, rising star on the far right and head of the Northern League party, sent a Facebook "hug for all the mummies and daddies protesting peacefully in Rome to defend their children's future." Vincenzo Brana, head of the long-standing Arcigay gay rights association in Bologna, was quick to point out that "today is World Refugee Day", with hundreds of thousands of migrants in Italy facing an uncertain future. Their problems "are an urgent issue which concerns us all. Those who take to the streets to talk of other things show they are living on another planet, and I would recommend leaving them on that planet alone."

Note the many Manif Pour Tous flags.

Italians Mock ISIS After Threat To Throw Gays Off The Leaning Tower of "Pizza"

You can see the mocking responses and memes here and here. The Italian government is taking the threat seriously.

In the wake of the threat, Italian security chiefs have approved plans to put 4,800 soldiers on the country's streets and 'sensitive sites' to prevent terrorist attacks. Reports claim 500 will be deployed in Rome - where soldiers are already guarding diplomatic residences, synagogues and Jewish schools. The troops are also expected to be deployed at tourist venues such as archeological sites and monuments. The commander of Vatican's 110-man Swiss Guard said they were ready to defend Pope Francis if ISIS attack. ISIS have executed four men in recent weeks for alleged homosexuality.

ITALY: Rome Approves Civil Unions

"At last Rome has adopted a register of civil unions. It is a long-awaited result which puts our city more and more in the forefront of the rights of individuals and the recognition of emotional ties, stable and durable. Today the capital of Italy gives the signal that, in this city, love is the same for everyone. So I want to express my satisfaction with this important step, which is not only an act of civility and respect for people, but aligns us to the rest of the Western world, in line with the main European countries with whom we share our history and cultural politics. The important discussion conducted by the Capitoline, which involved both the majority and the opposition, gave the city a measure that recognizes the rights of all its citizens, without exception.

"So I thank all the councilors and the councilors who voted for the registry, but also all those who have worked to make this historic milestone. I can not overemphasize also the symbolic value of the measure. Many Italian administrations, today, expect a national law that finally enshrines equal rights for all. Rome, by this example, hopes to help unlock the hesitations of legislators who, for too many years now, evading a full recognition of the legal and civil rights of all couples, regardless of their sexual orientation." - Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino, announcing the passage of civil unions today. [Via Google Translate] (Tipped by JMG reader Andrea)

Tony Perkins: The Vatican's Colloqium Is A "Clarion Call" Against Same-Sex Marriage

"Today, the Vatican’s colloquium on the complementarity of man and woman in marriage moved from laying a theoretical groundwork to take on the tone of a half-time locker room pep talk for those advancing the cause of natural marriage. In message after message today, from Sikh, Muslim, Mormon, and others (including American evangelicals Rick Warren and Russell Moore), there was a clarion call to renew the effort to uphold marriage as God intended it to be. Rick Warren gave an outstanding message that brought everyone to their feet as he gave clear instructions of what we must do. He warned that the opposition would be present as we lifted up marriage, but he said don’t mind the temporal voices, 'The only way to be relevant is to be eternal.' And answering those who love to say those who see marriage for how it was created are on the wrong side of history, Rick said, 'It’s not important to be on the right side of culture or the right side of history, it is just important to be on the right side!'" - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, via email.

Day Three Of Vatican Marriage Meeting

VATICAN: American Anti-Gay Religious Leaders To Attend Meeting On Marriage

Miranda Blue writes at Right Wing Watch:

Next week, American Religious Right leaders including the Southern Baptist Convention’s Russell Moore, pastor Rick Warren, Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles Chaput, and Latter-Day Saints official Henry Eyring will be joining opponents of LGBT equality from around the world at an interfaith conference on the “complementarity of man and woman in marriage” hosted by the Vatican. The conference follows a synod at which Catholic bishops considered, but ultimately rejected, proposals to soften the church’s stances on homosexuality, as well as those who have been divorced. Although he is not listed as a speaker, another prominent American opponent of LGBT equality will also be attending the conference. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said in an interview on Newsmax TV today that he plans to attend the conference in Rome and expects the Catholic Church to “make a very clear statement that pertains to marriage and what the Church views marriage to be” to provide “clarity” to the confusion coming out of the recent synod.

They must be very worried about something.

VATICAN: Topless Femen Trio Arrested After Simulating Anal Sex With Crucifixes

Via the International Business Times:

Three topless Femen demonstrators have been dragged away from St. Peter's Square after simulating anal sex with crucifixes in a protest against the Pope outside the Vatican. The women crouched on all fours and re-enacted sex with crosses while shouting anti-papal remarks including "a world without religion, a parliament without a pope" and "god is not a magician, pope is not a politician". It is thought the women, who had "the pope is not a politician" daubed across their breasts, were protesting against Pope Francis' planned visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on November 25.

Based in Ukraine, the Femen have previously demonstrated in support of LGBT rights, prompting an all-male anti-gay French group, the Hommen, to spring up in response.

ITALY: Mayor Of Rome Registers Sixteen Foreign Same-Sex Marriages

Via Bloomberg:

Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino today defied Italian law by transcribing 16 same-sex marriages that were celebrated abroad onto city hall registers. “Today is a special day that I hope will soon become a normal day,” Marino posted on his social media account along with pictures of himself wearing the mayor’s sash, posing with the smiling couples and their families inside Rome’s city hall. “How can you not call this love?” he asked in another post. The move is controversial for a country that does not recognize same-sex unions of any kind. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano immediately responded through his own social media account, saying the mayor’s transcriptions weren’t valid. “According to Italian law, this is not possible,” Alfano posted. “Marino’s signature can’t be a substitute for the law, all he did was give these very respectable couples his autograph.”

(Tipped by JMG reader Andrea)

ITALY: US Embassy To The Vatican Recognizes LGBT Pride Month

President #Obama proclaims June as #LGBT #Pride Month— “let each of us speak for tolerance, justice, and dignity.” http://t.co/2c3jaet7ah
— U.S. in Holy See (@USinHolySee) June 3, 2014

Former NOM communications director Thomas Peters is ever so pissed. From his post at Catholic Vote:

It’s nice to see where our tax dollars are going. One wonders if a rainbow flag was flying from our embassy in Rome today. Or if the embassy staff was distributing literature in St. Peter’s square today to promote awareness of homophobia and transphobia. A post like this by our embassy prompts the question, is it the position of our embassy that the Holy See is guilty of homophobia when, say, it opposes the redefinition of marriage, or is the Holy See transphobic in their eyes when it refuses ordination to a woman who undergoes sex reassignment therapy? Is the embassy saying the church does not support all youth, including those who are questioning their sexual identity? Is the embassy saying the church is intolerant?

(Tipped by JMG reader Lynda)

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ITALY: Local Manif Pour Tous Wing Stages Rome Rally Against Hate Crimes Bill

The Italian Senate is considering an expansion of its hate crimes laws to include LGBT citizens. This week the new Italian wing of France's neo-Nazi affiliated Manif Pour Tous held a rally in protest. Via the anti-gay LifeSiteNews:

A large rally was held in Rome against the bill organized by the recently formed Manif Pour Tous Italia, a civil liberties association that is concerned that such laws curtail human rights, rather than defending them. Opponents have been vocal in their concerns that the bill will threaten Article 21 in the Italian constitution that guarantees freedom of thought and opinion and the safeguards of the natural family in Articles 29, 30 and 32 that specify that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro, whith degrees in secular law and theology and the head of the Rome office of Human Life International attended the rally and spoke about it to LifeSiteNews.com.

He said that the threat of the law is two-fold. First, the bill will “make a crime of homophobia,” which he said is defined so broadly in the legislation that it can be used as a weapon against anyone the homosexual movement dislikes. But second, Msgr. Barreiro said, it is intended to smooth the way forward for the imposition of “gay marriage” or civil union legislation that is already in the works. The bill has been approved by the lower chamber of Italy’s parliament and Barreiro said, “there is a serious risk that it will pass.” Simply put, he said, the law will likely “be used to persecute the Church, priests who say homosexuality is a vice.”

Also attending the Rome hate rally were members of France's allegedly "ex-gay" group, Homovox, who appeared in national ads against France's same-sex marriage bill. Italy's proposed hate crimes bill is also opposed by some local LGBT rights groups, who complain that it has been rendered "toothless" by religious exemptions.

Below are videos from the Rome hate rally. It looks like they've latched onto an Italian version of Frigide Barjot. The music in the first clip is Run Boy Run by French pop star Woodkid, who had an international hit with the single last year. 

ROME: Famed Street Lit With Rainbow Lights For Gay Teen, Wingnuts Complain

Italy's right wing Fratelli d'Italia party is demanding the removal of rainbow lights hung over Rome's famous Via Del Corso in the memory of a gay teenager.

A rainbow-flag theme has been selected for the traditional lights along the city's main shopping street, the Via del Corso. The lights run for almost a mile long. The lights were chosen by the local council as a stand against homophobia, following the recent suicide of a gay teenager in the Eternal City. "That is how we came up with the rainbow flag idea," said councilor Imma Battaglia, who also heads up a gay rights campaign group. But that decision has not gone down well with everyone, reports AFP.

The company that put up the lights has responded to the furor by saying that the lights are now also dedicated to the memory of Nelson Mandela.

ITALY: Police Investigate Claims Of Catholic Priests Hiring Rentboys In Rome

Italian police are investigating claims that a former policeman visited the area around a bar named Twink (seriously) to recruit rentboys for Catholic priests assigned to churches across Rome.

Don Patrizio Poggi, 46, told Italian authorities that a former Carabinieri pimped boys for nine clergymen. Poggi, who served a five-year sentence for abusing teenage boys while he was a parish priest at the San Filippo Neri church in Rome, said he made the allegations to "protect the Holy Church and the Christian community."

The boys were chosen because they were starving and desperate, he claimed, according to Il Messaggero newspaper. The former policeman used to recruit the boys, mostly eastern European immigrants, outside a gay bar named Twink near Rome's Termini train station. He reportedly sat in his Fiat Panda - marked "Emergency Blood" to avoid parking fines - to make his selection.

He was helped in the recruitment process by a friend who ran a modelling agency. He lured underage boys into prostitution through "false work offers for modelling and acting roles", Poggi said. The agent also looked for rentboys at gay discos, saunas and gyms across Rome. An accountant was also said to be involved. The boys were paid €150-€500 (£130-£425) to perform sex acts in church premises across the capital.

The informant also claims that the former cop stole consecrated communion wafers to sell to Satanists. According to the above-linked report, two senior members of the Vatican have "vouched" for the "documentary and photographic evidence" given to the police.  Stand by for Bill Donohue to scream, "But what about the RABBIS that are hiring rentboys!"

At Rome Pride 2013

The Vatican Owns A Bathhouse

Delicious.

A day ahead of the papal conclave, faces at the scandal-struck Vatican were even redder than usual after it emerged that the Holy See had purchased a €23 million (£21 million) share of a Rome apartment block that houses Europe’s biggest gay sauna.

The senior Vatican figure sweating the most due to the unlikely proximity of the gay Europa Multiclub is probably Cardinal Ivan Dias, the head of the Congregation for Evangelisation of Peoples, who is due to participate in tomorrow’s election at the Sistine Chapel.

This 76-year-old “prince of the church” enjoys a 12-room apartment on the first-floor of the imposing palazzo, at 2 Via Carducci, just yards from the ground floor entrance to the steamy flesh pot. There are 18 other Vatican apartments in the block, many of which house priests.

From the sauna's website:

Behind this door an exciting and comfortable world is waiting for you... A place created by males and for males only. A place where you will forget about stress, uncertainties, fears and enjoy the priceless pleausre of beeing yourself! Here you will find: king turkish bath, finnish sauna, giant whirlpool, waterfall whirlpool, relaxation rooms with videos, gym with Tecnogym equipments, cinema, aesthetics - solarium - massage, parties - shows - surprises, music therapy e aromatherapy, chromotherapy, EMC Cafe' open non-stop!

Papal Conclave Begins Tomorrow

Over one hundred men in elaborately embroidered quinceañera gowns will begin voting on their new head cheerleader tomorrow.  Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley is now being named as one of the favorites.

O’Malley has emerged as a popular favorite in some circles, even as many still doubt the princes of the Roman Catholic Church are ready to elect an American. O’Malley led a poll of a half-dozen Vatican experts in the influential daily Corriere della Sera on Saturday, as well as a separate reader poll the paper published online Sunday. O’Malley’s brown habit, signifying his Capuchin Franciscan order’s simplicity and solidarity with the poor, has helped him stand out. So has his fluency in Spanish and connection with Hispanic communities, lending him an international appeal. And he is recognized as one of the church’s most effective leaders in dealing with clergy sexual abuse.

New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan is considered to be the only other American with a shot at the jewel-encrusted golden throne.  The new emperor should be named by Friday.

150,000 Attend Pope's Final Public Mass

Pope Blesses Porn Actors

Gay Star News reports that Ill Papa recently blessed two gay porn actors who appeared at the Vatican in priest drag.

The Pope has been tricked into blessing two porn actors and a video of the moment is set to be included in a new Bel Ami gay movie. That's according to famous gay porn producer and Bel Ami founder George Duroy who annouced the news on an online forum. The new film, Scandal in Vatican, is going to be released in September. It is the story of a couple of young priests, dressed as Catholic clerical students, who enjoy their sex experiences in the little country in the heart of Italy’s capital, Rome. [snip] Scandal in Vatican will also see a football match in piazza San Pietro, the Vatican’s main square. The Italian press think that the Vatican could sue the company and ask for compensation. And the Italian pink press writes that the Bel Ami actors could become the new Pussy Riot, the pro-gay Russian punk rock band who were recently jailed for a anti-Putin protest in a church.

Gay Star News notes that photos with the Pope appear on one of the actor's Facebook page, but those images appear to have been removed.

Quote Of The Day - Father Tony Adams

"Unlike my parents, young Catholics today do not fear or revere the clergy. The worldwide priest pedophile scandal did irreparable damage to the blind respect priests once enjoyed. For young Catholics, the pope is a distant and tiny man; a relic of an age when the temporal power and splendor of the church almost suffocated religion itself. Many of these young Catholics will not be getting out of bed early on a Sunday morning to get their kids cleaned up, dressed and in the car in time for Mass, and they will not be throwing their hard- earned dollars into the collection basket. They will discourage their sons from even considering the priesthood as a vocation. Today, American bishops brazenly insert themselves into politics, preaching messages of hate and intolerance, stripping rights from women and forcing the priests below them to read letters from the pulpit ordering Catholics to behave in certain ways, such as voting against marriage equality.

"Whenever a priest refuses to read such a letter, I am filled with hope that other priests—gay or straight—will stand up with him and will together take a courageous stand against the homophobia of the hierarchy. We live in a time where the sheep must lead the lost shepherds. But my hope is that when those confused old shepherds have passed away, a new generation of Catholic priests, bishops, cardinals, and popes will include openly gay, straight, single and married men and women—people who will not be interested in sticking their noses in Catholic bedrooms but will instead be focused on amplifying the unconditional love of Jesus. I hope I live to see that day. I would not mind receiving the blessing from such a pope and being asked again to step up to that pulpit on the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica to proclaim the truth of Jesus with the voice he gave me for exactly that purpose." - Father Tony Adams, writing for Pride Magazine.

NOTE: His essay begins on Page 74 and he does not shy away from naming some names from his days at the Vatican.