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Monday, March 11, 2013

Religion / LGBTQITSLFA Today In Unlikely Proximities: Catholic Church Plays Landlord to Gay Bathhouse

Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 1:14 PM

A day ahead of the papal conclave, faces at the scandal-struck Vatican were even redder than usual after it emerged that the Holy See had purchased a €23 million (£21 million) share of a Rome apartment block that houses Europe’s biggest gay sauna. The senior Vatican figure sweating the most due to the unlikely proximity of the gay Europa Multiclub is probably Cardinal Ivan Dias, the head of the Congregation for Evangelisation of Peoples, who is due to participate in tomorrow’s election at the Sistine Chapel. This 76-year-old “prince of the church” enjoys a 12-room apartment on the first-floor of the imposing palazzo, at 2 Via Carducci, just yards from the ground floor entrance to the steamy flesh pot. There are 18 other Vatican apartments in the block, many of which house priests.

The proximity of so many priests to a big gay bathhouse is a lot of things—a whole lot of things—but "unlikely" ain't one of 'em.

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This news could ruin the bathhouse's reputation.

Posted by Heh on March 11, 2013 at 1:26 PM

Oh, come on Dan! They bought a building, and it just happens to have a gay bath house in it. That's the kind of coincidence that could happen in any major city.

Undoubtedly they bought it because of the convenient location.

Posted by Clayton on March 11, 2013 at 1:32 PM

Cleanliness is next to Godliness.

Posted by Sargon Bighorn on March 11, 2013 at 1:33 PM

Fuck, this is terrible news. They're going to end access to abortion there. I hope the gay bathhouse put a plan in place to refer their clients to the nearest provider when asked.

Posted by seatackled on March 11, 2013 at 1:42 PM

Didn't I say in this exact space they should turn the Vatican into a gay bathhouse and casino? It happened before I said it. Huzzah!

Posted by Pope Peabrain on March 11, 2013 at 1:46 PM

Damn you, Google Earth Streetview car, for not driving down that street!! All we get are tantalizing glimpses from a cross street.

Rome is certainly very dense, with lots of different kinds of businesses crammed into one block, but there ain't no way this is just coincidence.

BTW, do we all know that the Seattle Roman Catholic Archdiocese is a major landlord all over Seattle? Just found out that a little coffee shop I like in South Lake Union is in a building owned by the Archdiocese.

Posted by NotYourStrawMan on March 11, 2013 at 2:06 PM

Once again: color me shocked.
"The wild nights of gay priests"

Posted by rob!

on March 11, 2013 at 2:23 PM

#2: when you're the Vatican you don't get to use that excuse. By owning this building they are, to put it in their quaintly archaic terms, literally profiting from the wages of sin. Not to mention living in air-conditioned luxury literally right on top of it.

Posted by James6 on March 11, 2013 at 2:24 PM

I assume the bathhouse will do the decent thing and install a private entrance for the Cardinal and his friends.

Posted by Fnarf

on March 11, 2013 at 2:29 PM

#9 you took the words out of my mouth.. er, keyboard.

Posted by drawn on March 11, 2013 at 2:49 PM

I'll bet that elfin little cardinal from D.C. stays an extra couple of days in Rome even if he doesn't win the keys to the Popemobile in Il Prezzo È Giusto, Vatican edition.

Posted by rob!

on March 11, 2013 at 3:16 PM

It reminds me of one of my favourite movie scenes of Fellini's "8 1/2" with the Roman Bath scene with the Cardinal..

Posted by ferret

on March 11, 2013 at 3:16 PM

And the Cardinals are going to be "checking the property" every day.

Posted by Nyckname on March 11, 2013 at 3:22 PM

Oh, come on now. Do we really believe in guilt by a-soap-ciation?

Posted by Brooklyn Reader on March 11, 2013 at 3:25 PM

Well, now, isn't that a convenient coincidence? Oh, my!

Posted by Reverse Polarity on March 11, 2013 at 5:03 PM

The three most important considerations for investing in real estate:Location! Location! Location!

Posted by Clayton on March 11, 2013 at 5:43 PM

Vow of poverty my ass.

Posted by sirkowski

on March 11, 2013 at 6:35 PM

@1 gigglesnort

Posted by Painy on March 11, 2013 at 7:08 PM

TimeOut reviews this bathhouse as having a "mixed crowd, with young, muscled tendencies":

http://www.timeout.com/rome/sport-health…

This leads to three observations:

1. higher ranking priests are usually neither young nor muscled, so they must keep a low profile when using the baths

2. we live in a glorious age where one can get reviews of bathhouses from TimeOut, and they aren't even categorized under gay & lesbian (TO filed this in the main category of "sport, health & fitness", with G&L and sauna as subtags :-)

3. how does Spartacus manage to stay in business, when mainstream outfits like TimeOut scrape by with 1% profit margins? for old time's sake, let's hope Davey Wavey helps them boost sales :-)

Posted by delta35 on March 12, 2013 at 8:14 AM