Villain Edit: Pope Paul VI
His condemnation of homosexuality was widely seen as hypocritical.
Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978.
Early life
Montini was born in Lombardy in Italy in 1897.
His family was wealthy and politically influential.
In 1916, he entered the seminary to become a Catholic priest. He was ordained in 1920.
Clerical career
Montini served in the Holy See's Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954.
In 1954, Montini was named the Archbishop of Milan, the largest Italian diocese.
John XXIII elevated Montini to the College of Cardinals in 1958, and after his death, Montini was, with little to no opposition, elected his successor, taking the name Paul VI.
Allegations of homosexuality
In 1976, Paul VI became the first pontiff in the modern era to deny the accusation of homosexuality.
On 29 December 1975, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document entitled Persona Humana: Declaration on Certain Questions concerning Sexual Ethics, that reaffirmed church teaching that premarital or extramarital sex, homosexual activity, and masturbation are sinful acts.
In response, Roger Peyrefitte, who had already written in two of his books that Paul VI had a longtime homosexual relationship, repeated his charges in a magazine interview with a French gay magazine that, when reprinted in Italian, brought the rumours to a wider public and caused an uproar. He said that the Pope was a hypocrite who had a long-term sexual relationship with an actor. Widespread rumours identified the actor as Paolo Carlini.
The charges - which Montini specifically denied - have resurfaced periodically, and it's widely understood that Montini promoted gay men to positions of power within the Vatican.
Gareth Johnson