Vatican bars cleric who spoke of gay sex!

The Vatican said Saturday it has suspended a monsignor from a senior post at the Holy See after an Italian TV program using a hidden camera recorded him making advances to a young man and asserting that gay sex was not sinful.

The Vatican did not identify the monsignor by name, but Monsignor Tommaso Stenico confirmed in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that he had been suspended from his post at the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy, an office which aims to ensure proper conduct by priests.

"Don't condemn me," Stenico said, adding that the program "was done fraudulently" because it used a hidden camera.

In the program on private Italian network La7, a man identified as a priest is heard saying that he "didn't feel he was sinning" by having sex with gay men.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said the Italian monsignor was suspended while the case was under investigation.

While the Vatican rarely comments on individual sex scandals, this case directly touched the Holy See, apparently prompting the confirmation of the report.

Vatican teaching holds that homosexual activity is a sin.

The man La Repubblica identified as the Vatican official can be heard saying that "he didn't feel he was sinning" by having sex with gay men and asking his visitor if he liked him.

See Chick's ALBERTO for more gay Vatican clergy sex!