Editing Pope Paul VI (section)

===Allegations of homosexuality===
In 1976 Paul VI became the first pontiff in the modern era to deny the accusation of [[Homosexuality and Catholicism|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19751229_persona-humana_en.html|title=Persona Humana – Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics|website=www.vatican.va|access-date=15 March 2020|archive-date=27 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627220159/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19751229_persona-humana_en.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |title=Christopher Hitchens on the death of Pope Paul VI |work=New Statesman |date=28 February 2013 |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2013/02/christopher-hitchens-death-pope-paul-vi |access-date=6 October 2015 |archive-date=7 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007031137/http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2013/02/christopher-hitchens-death-pope-paul-vi |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 longtime sexual relationship with an actor.<ref>Peyrefitte, Roger ''Mea culpa? Ma fatemi il santo piacere'', ''Tempo'', 4 April 1976.</ref><ref name="Observer">{{cite news |last=Torress |first=Jose |agency=Associated Press |title=Paul VI Denies He Is Homosexual |work=Observer Reporter |date=5 April 1976 |page=27 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19760405&id=6G5eAAAAIBAJ&pg=1676,395778&hl=en |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308202249/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19760405&id=6G5eAAAAIBAJ&pg=1676,395778&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Bellegrandi, Franco ''Nichitaroncalli: Controvita Di Un Papa'', Edizioni Internazionale Di Letterature E Scienze (EILES), Rome 2009. English edition: ''Nikitaroncalli: Counterlife of a Pope''</ref> Widespread rumours identified the actor as [[Paolo Carlini]],<ref name="Posner">{{cite book |last=Posner |first=Gerald |title=God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican |date=2015 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |page=173}}</ref> who had a small part in the [[Audrey Hepburn]] film ''[[Roman Holiday]]'' (1953). In a brief address to a crowd of approximately 20,000 in St Peter's Square on 18 April 1976, Paul VI called the charges "horrible and slanderous insinuations" and appealed for prayers on his behalf. Special prayers for the Pope were said in all Italian Catholic churches in "a day of consolation".<ref name="Observer" /><ref name="Posner" />{{efn|In 1984, [[Paul Hofmann]], a former correspondent for ''[[The New York Times]]'', repeated the allegations.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hoffman |first= Paul | title=Oh Vatican! A Slightly Wicked View Of The Holy See | publisher= Congdon & Weed |location= New York |date=1984 |page=151}}</ref>}} The charges have resurfaced periodically. In 1994, Franco Bellegrandi, a former Vatican honour chamberlain and correspondent for the Vatican newspaper ''[[L'Osservatore Romano]]'', alleged that Paul VI had been blackmailed and had promoted other gay men to positions of power within the Vatican.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bellegrandi |first= Franco |title=Nichita Roncalli – Controvita di un Papa| location= Rome |publisher= Editizioni Internazionale di Letterature e Scienze | date= 1994 |pages= 85–86, 91–92}}</ref> In 2006, the newspaper ''[[L'Espresso]]'' reported that the private papers of police commander General Giorgio Manes confirmed the blackmail story as true, and that Italian Prime Minister [[Aldo Moro]] had been asked to help.<ref name="Posner" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Dino |first=Martirano |date=27 January 2006 |title=Dossier su un tentato ricatto a Paolo VI |language=it |work=Corriere Della Sera |url=http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2006/gennaio/27/Dossier_tentato_ricatto_Paolo_VI_co_9_060127066.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017184849/http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2006/gennaio/27/Dossier_tentato_ricatto_Paolo_VI_co_9_060127066.shtml |archive-date=17 October 2014}}</ref>