Italy: Vatican sends gay priests to Venturini convent to 'rediscover the straight'

A former priest has raised allegations claiming the Vatican sends homosexual priests to a convent in a bid to 'cure' them and help them 'rediscover the straight and narrow'. Mario Bonfanti who was based at a parish in a Sardinia village poured in on the workings of the convent based in Trento.

Bonfanti, 44, was sacked from his role at the Church three years ago after being found to be a homosexual. Despite not being in a relationship, he was still stripped of his duties at the Church and advised to head to the Trento convent, Venturini, to "reflect" on his life and future.

"There exists a convent where priests who manifest inappropriate sexual tendencies are sent to reflect. It's a place where they help you to rediscover the straight and narrow. They wanted to 'cure' me but I refused to go," Bonfanti told La Repubblica newspaper, reported The Telegraph.

Founded in 1928, the Venturini convent's website claims it can, "accommodate a large number of priests, offering them an open and tranquil environment in which they can confront their problems."

Meanwhile, several hundred priests have joined together for the three-week long second Vatican synod on family issues in Rome. Earlier, 43-year-old Polish theologian and priest, Krzysztof Charamsa, was removed of his duties at the Vatican after he declared being gay and condemned the "institutionalised homophobia in the Church".

Charamsa alleged that a majority of priests are gay, which attracted further anger from the Vatican officials. "The biblical sodomite has nothing to do with two gays who love each other in modern-day Italy... I am unable to find a single passage, even in St Paul, that may be seen as referring to homosexual persons asking to be respected as such," said Charamsa, reported The Independent.