Personally, I find it hysterically funny that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi - a sycophant of the Vatican - has been indicted for having sex with an underage prostitute. The indictment underscores the fact that Berlusconi is of about the same level of moral bankruptcy as the current occupant of the throne of St. Peter. Berlusconi has happily pushed the Vatican's anti-modernity agenda and done all he can to frustrate sexual freedom for Italians, both gay and straight. Meanwhile, Berlusconi's personal conduct has been akin to a nasty old satyr and has made a mockery of the Vatican's supposed rules regarding sexual conduct. Berlusconi and the Vatican truly deserve one another and the fact that Berlusconi's morals are pretty much in the gutter clearly corresponds with those of the child rapist protectors within the Vatican's walls. A post at Huffington Post explores the well deserved embarrassment accruing to the Vatican Here are highlights:*
Berlusconi's stands against euthanasia, living wills, in-vitro fertilization and domestic partnerships have put his country in line with Catholic teaching, and out of sync with all other major countries in the region, including traditionally Catholic Spain. His government has also granted large financial subsidies to Catholic schools, and expanded tax breaks for church-owned businesses.
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Yet in Berlusconi's increasingly public personal life, the billionaire businessman-turned-politician is not exactly a model of Catholic values. After months of ever more graphic reports of wild parties and sex with young women, including several alleged prostitutes, a judge on Tuesday (Feb. 15) ruled that Berlusconi must face trial on April 6 on charges of paying for sex with a minor and obstruction of justice.
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Catholic bishops have several strong reasons to refrain from openly criticizing Berlusconi now. The most obvious is that the church needs the cooperation of his center-right government to pursue its legislative agenda.
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Another factor inhibiting Italian church leaders in the Berlusconi matter, Franco said, may be last year's controversies over clergy sex abuse in several European and Latin American countries, which undermined the church's moral authority in the eyes of many critics.
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Still, the pressure on church leaders to break with the prime minister may grow too strong to resist. An anti-Berlusconi demonstration by hundreds of thousands of Italian women on Sunday (Feb. 13) won the endorsement of the editor of the Italian bishops' official newspaper; one of the most prominent speakers at the rally in Rome was a 70-year-old nun who is also an activist against sex trafficking.
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Berlusconi bears a striking resemblance to the American GOP hypocrites who laud "family values" yet then commit adultery, troll for gay sex, vote for policies that undermine the finances of working families, and gay bash for politic points.
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