ROME — The Italian church says gay priests must not lead a "double life," expressing pain and anger over a magazine article and video purporting to show priests frequenting gay locales in Rome.
A statement by the Roman Catholic Rome diocese on Friday said no one is 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 percent of the priests he knew were gay.
The Rome diocese said the article was aimed at defaming the church.
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