An Italian priest is under house arrest after being accused of stealing from church funds and donations to purchase drugs for gay sex parties.
40-year-old Father Francesco Spagnesi of Tuscany had previously been described by his community as a “young, brilliant, all-involving and refined priest.”
He is now under close watch as authorities interview 200 people who have attended his parties in the last two years.
The Times reports police began investigating after learning that Spagnesi’s roommate had imported a liter of Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) from The Netherlands.
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Related: Priest busted for filming himself having gay sex on church altar goes into hiding
Meanwhile, a church accountant discovered roughly $117,000 was missing from the parish account, some of which came from the collection plate. Spagnesi has confessed that he stole it.
The priest is also accused of deceiving parishioners, soliciting money directly and saying it was to help low-income families. It’s unclear if Spagnesi was actually donating the money he raised or if it, too, went into his pocket.
Churchgoers say they will take legal action to get their money back.
Chrisk
Ha. What’s that compared to the millions shifted about to avoid paying their child abuse victims.
Money used for drugs at gay sex parties is still a far better use of those funds then the Catlick church has ever done.
Max
…a “young, brilliant, all-involving and refined priest.”
this sounds like a euphemism for sure.
Heywood Jablowme
“Refined” = owns a silver coke spoon.
SDR94103
it means he’s a vers bottom.
Ken A.
He’s hot. Forgiven.
DumpTrump
That’s not him,,,Google the real guy,,,he’s not so hot.
Leo
Absolutely!
hostaboss
The picture at the top isn’t him. If you google his name several other pictures come up. The real guy has brown eyes. Pretty sloppy journalism.
Troyfight
@hostaboss …as usual.
humble charlie
“This is a nice boy. This is a good boy. This is a mother’s angel.”
from Young Frankentein
cubcmh
House arrest? So the party’s moving to his place??
major8man
My kinda Priest ! lol
Vovette
Clearly the vow of chastity means little to some priests, perhaps the church needs to review it, some end up having an affair with a woman, often they resign from the preist hood and marry, others have affairs with young men, so of course naturally many will judge the priest more harshly for having a affair with a man, but in my view they are the same a man or a woman, the priest clearly cannot keep it in his pants.
Cato
My dad’s youngest brother was a late vocation and entered the seminary in his early 40s. He joked that most of the seminarians mumbled and took a vow of charity instead of chastity.
He was also a raging alcoholic and was dead three days from a bender before the church secretary started to smell him from the rectory office.
barryaksarben
My parents raised 6kids with NO religion and I am so glad they did although from all I discover it sounds like the Catholics are down to Fk. While in college I went into a phase where I researched all the main religions to understand what I was never exposed to and came to the conclusion that they are all so much the same and all stress how loving they are but by simple observation I saw just how hate filled they all really are and again thanked my parents. It does make it hard to understand friends and others I meet who get so screwed up over it all. Organised religion is organised crime. SImple. A crutch for people who fear being in charge of their own lives
DarkZephyr
I’m an agnostic and was raised Pentecostal and yes it sucked, but I’ve studied religion of varying types myself, quite extensively and I have a hard time believing that you studied it with any depth if your takeaway is that they’re “all the same”. I call complete and total bullsh*t.
CaballodeFuego
It is sad to see the information is not accurate, almost fake. NOT GAY ISSUE REALLY The Priest was a kind of drugs dealer and He sold drugs for anyone not necessary gay parties. He got drugs from Holland to sell who wanted,search the information in any searcher to find out the real news…
Gay Thomas
Stealing from the Catho-lick Church for drugs for gay sex parties? Give him a freakin’ medal.
JJinAus
Petty cash for that lot.
Kangol2
Crux, the Catholic news site, has a full report on the story. It turns out the local bishop knew Spagnesi was a mess and suggested psychotherapy, but didn’t dig deeper to find out about the financial scandal involving parish funds until the arrest of Spagnesi’s associate and housemate. Sound familiar? I was relieved to see this had nothing to do with children or teenagers, but it does point to the fact that there are many priests struggling with their sexual desires (for sex and relationships with consenting adults) and many find outlets despite their vows of chastity. There are many like him, and as some of you may know, they are a target of right-wing Catholics in the US.
barkomatic
I guess I don’t need to convince anyone here, but the idea that a religion requires you to never have sex with anyone for life is beyond messed up. It’s a human need and forcing someone to abstain is not only cruel but dangerous.