PALERMO, Italy — Years after he lost his dream job in the Vatican’s Latin department, left the priesthood, came out as gay, went public with sensational accounts of rampant sex among clergy in Rome and reinvented himself as a gay rights activist and journalist with a column in Latin, Francesco Lepore returned to the Vatican to discuss a new gig.
In November, Mr. Lepore, 45, accepted an invitation to the office of Andrea Tornielli, the Vatican’s influential editorial director, who complimented him profusely on his Latin and asked if he would be interested in helping with the church’s Latin language podcast.
Naturally, he says he was told, they would need to keep the collaboration and payments quiet. “Because clearly,” said Mr. Lepore, who.