HOMOSEXUALITY & HOMOPHOBIA - SEEN FROM EUROPE WITH NORWEGIAN EYES
THE STORY OF THE PAPAL SWISS GUARD - Guardia Svizzera Pontificia
EN - The author is not liable for any defects and deficiencies, both in their own writings and in the source material, taken from the Internet's endless archives. This is a completed school assignment by a 16 years old boy and therefore no feedback needed.
NO - Forfatteren tar forbehold om eventuelle feil og mangler, både i egne skriverier samt i kildematerialet, hentet fra internetts uendelige arkiver. Dette er en avsluttet skoleoppgave av en heterofil gutt på 16 år og derfor trengs ingen tilbakemeldinger.
Guardia Svizzera Pontificia or Pope's Swiss Guard is today a force of Swiss mercenaries serving as papal bodyguards and as the Vatican's defence. Their official language is German. The force is currently limited to 100 soldiers and now comprises four officers, 23 non-commissioned officers, 70 halberdiers, two drummers and a chaplain.
The soldiers are trained and equipped with modern weapons and tactics, but also trained in the use of sword and halberds. Halberd is a weapons consisting of an axe blade and a spearhead on the end of a long pole. The Guard was officially founded January 22, 1506.
The requirements for Guards are very strict. They must be men, belonging to the Roman Catholic faith, have Swiss nationality, have initial compulsory military service and served three years in the Swiss defence, as well as having a clean record certificate.
Guards have to be tall, handsome, athletic and Swiss young men between 19 to 30 years. In addition, they must swear eternal fidelity to the oath the chaplain reads aloud to them by proceeding to the banner and swearing by raising their right hand.
Many believe that the Pope's Swiss Guard first and foremost have to do with security, not to mention pomp and circumstance. At times it has, but let's go back in time and look at who founded the Vatican's Swiss Guard, and why he did it. You'll be quite surprised.
The history shows that it was Pope Julius II, often called the belligerent or the dreaded Pope who founded the Vatican's Swiss Guard in 1505 - although the official date is 22 January 1506.
Giuliano della Rovere as his real name was, reigned as Pope since he was 59 until he was 69 years old. He was the nephew of the former Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484), and was most likely gay just like his uncle.
He was sentenced by the Council of Pisa as "the sodomite (gay) with the shameful wounds" (pink syphil's rash on face and hands). The council based its conclusions on Julius's great love for Federigo Gonzaga, Francesco Alidosi and many other handsome young men.
When one was "taken with your pants down" as gay, or as a sodomite as it previously often were referred to, what would be more natural and even smarter, than camouflaging their lovers as handsome stalwart Guardsmen?
Guardsmen who were 100% under his command and to his pleasure just when he wanted. Now the gay and sex possessed pope was amidst its own custom-designed candy store and could only pick and choose.
The Swiss Guard was simply a papal gay paradise on earth to him and his cardinals needing gay sex.
It was said that the boys were going to defend the Pope and the Vatican, but why did it have to be the most handsome and prettiest Swiss boys between 19 and 30 years?
Why did they have to sign a declaration of confidentiality which also included their own sexual privacy - even forever and always? Why have not the popes subsequently abolished their own little gay sex paradise if it is so sinful?
Just because it is constantly popes and cardinals who need and want gay sexual diversion - a pleasure that should not be for others to take part in. They protect themselves and their own - that's the truth.
Let's take a quick look back at some of the other holy popes and see how they really have behaved.
Did they live in seclusion and in accordance with their own religious convictions? Or does the truth look like this: You will do as I say and not as I do!
But first, a little explanation of the difference between homosexuality and sodomy. Is this two sides of the same coin as many believe?
No, not at all! Homosexuality as most of us know (from Greek homos, "the same" and Filos "friend", meaning loving the same, in the sense of the same sex) is a sexual orientation characterized by romantic and / or sexual attraction to people of one's own sex.
Sodomy however, very few knows what it really means. Many believe that this is the very same as homosexuality, but that is completely wrong. According to both Norwegian and Danish dictionary, sodomy refers to sexual intercourse with animals - something most people deplore mostly.
Norwegian Dictionary: "sodomy" (from Sodom, cf. Genesis 19) sexual intercourse between man and beast.
Danish Dictionary: "A biblical expression that comes from the two sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was thought initially that it meant homosexuality, but it has since come to mean sexual intercourse with animals".
The truth is that the word sodomy has had many deceptive meanings and has been used in the most amazing ways through the ages.
In medieval terminology sodomy was one of the biggest assaults one could commit, and mattered far more than simply being homosexual. It also included bestiality, heresy, witchcraft and sex with animals.
After the Reformation in England, people used it even though popes and the papacy in the form of treason.
Let's have a look at some other popes as well. However, the problem is writing about popes in retrospect, we find out that all the clergy has been some excellent masters in rewriting the history and covering the traces of both themselves and their predecessors. Therefore, one must take advantage of the saying: No smoke without fire.
Mostly it is impossible to wipe out all traces and rumours. Let's just look at a few key words about some few individual popes:
Pope No. 130 - John XII (955-963)
- reigned from when he was 18 to 26 years’ old
His big idol was the Roman emperor Heliogabalus (Elagabalus) and his very dissolute conduct. This meant that he himself held and participated in countless gay sex orgies in the papal palace.
John XII sexual activities may have contributed to instigate the Puritan theologian Peter Damian (1007-1072), to go on the attack against all types of sexual behaviour among clergy. Under Pope Gregory VII (ca. 1021-1085) overcame his ideas of clerical celibacy, which was mandatory for all the Catholic clergy, a ruling that has validity even today.
Pope No. 145 - Benedict IX (1032-1044 / 1045-1045 / 1047-1048)
- reigned from when he was 20-32 years' old
It is perhaps correct to call Pope Benedict IX for the first pope who was primarily gay. If nothing else, he is known to have transformed the Vatican into a luxurious male brothel where he amused himself masterfully.
Pope No. 196 -John XXII (1316-1334)
- reigned from when he was 72-90 years' old
Age is no barrier. Known as the most liberal pope ever. Perhaps therefore mostly about his escapades have become inaccessible.
Pope No. 211 - Paul II (1464-1471)
- reigned from when he was 47-54 years' old
When Pietro Barbo, who was a very handsome man, and he knew about it, was elected pope in 1464, he announced that he wanted to be called Formosus which means just beautiful. This terrified the cardinals who talked him out of it, and Barbo took the less pretentious name Paul II. According to writers Paul II a collector of statues, jewellery, and reportedly a big collector of handsome young men.
Pope Paul II died July 26, 1471 of a stroke, allegedly while he was sexually satisfied by a young boy. After his death, one of his successors have suggested that he could have been called "Maria Pietissima", "Our Lady of Pity," because he was inclined to break out into tears in times of crisis. Other historians have suggested that his nickname was due to his propensity to enjoy dressing up in sumptuous feminine ecclesiastical finery, or also his probable gays orientation.
It is a huge paradox that while Pope Paul II himself are enjoying himself with gay experiences in the Vatican, as well as in Italy and the rest of Europe, other "sodomites" or gays were burned for their cruel "sins". It is quite obvious that ecclesiastical laws do not apply for popes
Pope No. 212 – Sixtus IV (1471-1484)
- reigned from when he was 57-70 years’ old
Two popes of the Renaissance came from the della Rovere family and both were accused of "sodomy" by their political and religious enemies. Pope Sixtus IV, born Francesco della Rovere, made his nephew Petro Riario, who also was his lover, to a cardinal.
Pope No. 214 – Alexander VI (1492-1503)
- reigned from when he was 61-72 years' old
Grades list including possible gay Popes helps us to conclude that some of the popes ignored the church's policy against homosexuality to such a degree that they did chose to practice it themselves. Moreover, they needed no carnal followers.
Pope No. 216 - Julius II (1503-1513)
- reigned from when he was 59-69 years' old
Giuliano della Rovere was his real name, reigned as Pope since he was 59 until he was 69 years old. He was also the nephew of the former Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484), and was most likely gay just like his uncle.
He was sentenced by the Council of Pisa as "the sodomite (gay) with the shameful wounds". The council based its conclusions on Julius's great love for Federigo Gonzaga, Francesco Alidosi and many other handsome young men.
History shows that it was Pope Julius II, often called the belligerent or the dreaded Pope who founded the Vatican's Swiss Guard.
It was also Pope Julius II who started with the indulgences trade and made the world famous quotation: Once the money in the chest sounds, the soul from purgatory springs.
Cause: To raise money for, among other things construction of St. Peter's Basilica, and maybe his personal gay life style (keeping young Guardsmen), the pope started selling indulgences that people could buy instead of doing penence for their sins. This arrangement proved to be very popular especially among people who had money.
Something you may not know, was that one could also buy indulgences for something wrong one later was going to commit. The scheme resulted in substantial income to the church.
Pope No. 217 – Leo X (1513-1521)
- reigned from when he was 37-45 years' old
Martin Luther, who spent a lot of time in Rome under Pope Leo X's reign, has said that Pope Leo X had vetoed against the suggestion that the cardinals should limit the number of boys who were held to their own amusement. If this came to light, the news would spread very fast around the world, how openly and shamelessly the pope and the cardinals in Rome were practicing sodomy. This did chock Luther so badly that he even recommended his German compatriots not to defend the pope and the papacy practice.
However, the cunning, clever and sex fixated Pope Leo X issued instead a bulletin in 1514 that urged the cardinals to live a sober, pious life, and refrain from evil and all that gave expression to be evil. Likewise, he got an eyewitness to emphasize his belief, that Leo was chaste his whole life. Smart huh!
Ever since the 1800s, both Catholic and non-Catholic historians have come with considerations about whether Leo led an immoral life or not. The result is that the considerations have been regarded as unworthy of the church and is no evidence whether he was gay or not. Those who have not been bound by the ecclesiastical decisions has clearly indicated that Leo was very unchaste under his pontificate.
Pope Leo X's recent biographer Carlo Falconi, argues that Leo did hid a privacy and an immoral life behind his otherwise gentle and human facade. Slander and immoral accusations such as promiscuity and gay activities flourished during the conclaves that followed his death in 1521. Sexual innuendo is also reflected by two simultaneous historians named Francesco Guicciardini and Paolo Giovio. Giovio especially dislike the Pope's quarrels with his court about handsome young men from noble families, how he "exploits" them in all possible ways, and not least all the benefits he gets from having them in his "custody". Having a son in the Pope's "custody" gave an enormous status to the family at that time.
Pope No. 221 - Julius III (1550-1555)
- reigned from when he was 62-67 years’ old
Pope Julius III who reigned from 1550 to 1555, is probably the one who has created one of the most notorious homosexual scandals in papal history.
While he still was Cardinal Giovanni Maria del Monte, he fell in love with a 15 years old boy named Innocenzo. Two years later, now as Pope, he made Innocenzo to a cardinal, his chief diplomat and political agent.
Although the church expertise insisted that Julius interest of Innocenzo only was strictly platonic, citing Crompton; the Venetian ambassador to the Holy See, that the boy shared the bedroom and bed with the pope.
Not surprisingly, Cardinal Innocenzo's glorified days was over when his papal partner died in 1555. Innocenzo himself died in 1577.
Pope No. 261 – John XXIII (1958-1963)
- reigned from when he was 76-81 years' old
In modern times, Pope John XXIII (Angelo Roncalli, 1958-1963) and later Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini, 1963-1978) have been suspected to be gay. Winston Leyland in Gay Sunshine Interviews Vol. 2, has ascribed both popes a relatively large tolerance of homosexuality in their own sexual orientation; although it could be argued with the Italian Church always traditionally being more open and tolerant to "carnal lusts and sins" than the Polish, German or Irish-American churches.
Pope No. 262 – Paul VI (1963-1978)
- reigned from when he was 65-80 years' old
Paul VI was revealed by the gay French writer Roger Peyrefitte, after an interview he did, and in response to the Pope's anti-gay regulations in 1976. According to Peyrefitte, who also wandered in the aristocratic circles in both France and Italy, Paul VI lived an active gay life while he was still Archbishop Montini of Milan.
In an interview with Gay Sunshine, Peyrefitte memories Montini having an affair with a young film actor named Paul, whose name Montini took becoming Pope. He also visited "a discreet house" where he and others from Milan would "meet boys". Peyrefitte revelations caused a world sensation, and a very sharp objection from the Vatican.
Pope No. 265 – Benedict XVI (2005-2013)
- reigned from when he was 78-85 years' old
All this leads us to the penultimate Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger). Though "Papa Ratzi" is best known for all his anti-gay statements, this leads us to the gay and Catholic writer Andrew Sullivan. He argued strongly for the pope to be homosexual in an article in 2010. Sullivan noted the Pope's "prissy fastidiousness" , feminine voice, fixation on liturgy and ritual, over-the-top clothes, and his very close relationship with Georg Gänswein, the handsome Bavarian priest the Pope made to his own private and personal secretary.
All of this is speculations of course; but who are very often the biggest homophobes? The gays themselves, being jealous, still staying in the closet. And finally, why did he have to abdicate after hiding other priests with homosexual orientation, gays actions and abuse of others?
Pope No. 266 – Francis (2013-)
- stared his reign 76 years’ old.
It is said you can party and revel like a king, but now you can even "play" and dine delicious gourmet food just like a pope. Recently a new cookbook was released with Pope Francis and former pope’s favourite recipes by a young, handsome, athletic chef recruited into the Vatican's Swiss Guard.
David Geisser 24 years old, released a cookbook titled "Buon Appetito" in Rome on October 21, 2016. The cookbook contains the Pope's favorite dishes like empanadas; roasted sirloin, known as "colitas the cuadril" and "dulce de leche", and even a milk based Argentine dessert which began appearing on the Vatican's dining table when the archbishop of Buenos Aires was elected pope. The book was published in German. An Italian version is expected to be published in 2017.
"A soldier can only fight and go to war when he has eaten well - and enough," says Daniel Rudolf Anrig, head of the Swiss Guards, adding: "Italian cooking is the best in the world."
Or like an old Norwegian proverb: "The way to a man's heart is through the stomach".
DAVID GEISSER AND HIS WORLD FAMOUS PAPAL COOKBOOK BUON APPETITO
Whom to believe in? Commanders and experienced Guardsmen or The Vatican loyal advocates?
Monday, January 20, 2014, former Commandant Elmar Mäder told that there is a "secret society of gays" in the Vatican. Elmar Mäder, who was commander of the guards from 2002 to 2008, said the time in the heart of the Vatican had given him an insight into certain aspects of the life inside. He said following to the newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag: I cannot refute the claim there is a network of gays. My experience implies there is such a thing. However, he refused to comment on speculations of him warning Guardsmen against the behaviour of some priests, as a result of the last times statements about gay priests working in the heart of the Roman Catholic Church. Tough by one who has swore an oath, pledging allegiance lest he'll never say anything about life in the Vatican.
Earlier that month the same newspaper referenced to a previously unnamed member of the guard, who claimed he had been exposed to more than 20 "clear sexual requests" from priests while he served. He's remembering at a dinner in Rome, the priest saying: "We have now been served a lovely steak with spinach and accessories, while you will be the sweet and delicious dessert".
At the same time in 2014, the Vatican's own spokesman Urs Breitenmoser claimed that rumors about a gay network does not pose a problem for the guard, because the members are motivated by other interests.
Bottom line: He did not dare to deny the allegations of a gay network in fear of meeting himself in the door! Or maybe he uses the services himself!
Or: Guardsmen are motivated by quite different interests now: Money!
Maybe it is greedy young gay men now entering the into the Swiss Guard, taking economic advantage or other benefits from the Vatican and all their gay sexually needy priests, cardinals and popes?
... and finally all the questions we most likely never will get answers to
- Popes are people too you might say - does it give them an automatic right to lie about their own lives?
- Is all what we read about, and see on TV, just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to religious leaders?
- Has the church always been a playground where abusers have been able to play freely in the name of God?
- Why are so many gays and especially heterosexual abusers drawn into ecclesiastical positions?
- Is it any wonder that religious organizations do not want to lift the veil and come with revelations?
Judge for yourself, what you really think and believe about the popes, the cardinals and their lives
Finally, a small amusing curiosity from the Pope's daily life in the Vatican ...
