Vatican Suspends Senior Monsignor for Being Gay

he 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.

Stenico was suspended by the Vatican after he was caught on tape making sexual advances at a young man.

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.

Rome daily La Repubblica reported Saturday that Vatican officials recognized the monsignor’s office in the background of the program, which aired October 1.

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

“Higher-ups are evaluating the situation with the necessary reserve and with the obligatory respect for the person involved, even if this person has erred,” Lombardi said.

Read more of this at edition.cnn.com.