Oct 15 2007
Priest Loses Job for Love of a Woman
Welcome to Scuttlebutt Pipeline! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or sign up to receive email notifications of new entries.
Also, don't forget to check out Fifty for the Fall, your chance to win $50 cash - no strings attached!
He announced that he wanted to become the boyfriend of one particular woman but would remain chaste. His love for her has never been questioned, and he has supported her and her child financially, but the ruling has come down and the Rev. Sante Sguotti has been removed from his office.
The Rev. Sante Sguotti can no longer work as pastor in his Monterosso parish and cannot hear confessions from the faithful, the diocese of Padua said in a statement. Sguotti remains a priest and can celebrate Mass, however.
Sguotti made headlines in August when he went on national television to say he was in love with a woman and wanted to be her boyfriend publicly while remaining chaste.
Now, from a historical point of view, it wasn’t until relatively [in the history of Christianity] that the clergy were forbidden from being married and had to remain chaste. Read the bible ladies and gentlemen, no where does it say that a priest has to be celibate and unmarried in order to lead a congregation. It wasn’t until one pope came forward and changed this that this went into effect. The fact that they do allow some of priests to marry but not all based on region is rather absurd.
