[InfoVaticana] A comment caught by an open microphone, barely audible, without verifiable context and with no objective possibility of identifying its recipients, has been enough to trigger a lightning reaction against Monsignor Marco Agostini. He is one of the pontifical master of ceremonies and, currently, one of the figures most clearly identified with the defense of the traditional liturgy within the Vatican. The phrase—"culattomi tutti insieme" (the faggots all together)—appears fleetingly in an off-the-record moment of an institutional Vatican News video of the Pope’s Christmas meeting with cardinals and bishops residing in Rome. Nothing in the audio allows for a certain determination of who he was referring to, or even if it was an expression directed at a specific, isolated group or a private comment poorly captured during a moment of organizational transition.
The attribution of the comment to Agostini was first reported by Silere non possum and, from that moment on, the machinery was activated with a speed as revealing as it was disturbing. There has been no clear official explanation, no calm contextualization of the facts, nor a transparent investigation to evaluate the actual gravity of the incident. The mere existence of a blurred audio has been sufficient to justify a disproportionate and automatic reaction.
An Uncomfortable Profile at the Wrong Time
Agostini is not a neutral name within the Vatican. He is known for his closeness to the Traditional Mass, for regularly celebrating according to the ancient Roman Rite in the crypt of St. Peter’s, and for his presence in circles unequivocally associated with classical liturgical Catholicism, including the traditional pilgrimage to Covadonga. In the current climate, that trajectory is not a simple personal trait: it is an ecclesial position that is uncomfortable for some. And when a profile becomes bothersome, any pretext will do.
The problem is not a phrase. The problem is who utters it.
Real Scandals, Prolonged Tolerance
The contrast becomes scandalous when observing the Vatican’s management of infinitely more serious cases in recent years. The recent history of the Roman Curia is marked by documented episodes of high-level clerics involved in active sexual conduct, double lives, drug use, sex parties in Vatican premises, and even systems of internal blackmail based precisely on those behaviors.
In many of those cases, the institutional reaction was slow, opaque, or directly non-existent. Discreet transfers, administrative silences, calls for mercy and pastoral accompaniment. No rush. No immediate exemplarity. No open microphone turned into a cause for summary execution.
The Carlo Capella Case: Mercy Without Nuance
The contrast reaches its most painful point with the case of Carlo Capella, a former official of the Vatican Secretariat of State. Capella was prosecuted by the United States justice system for downloading and sharing child pornography—facts judicially proven and recognized by the Vatican authorities.
And yet, after serving his sentence, Capella has been welcomed back into Vatican structures, residing in a major ecclesiastical residence alongside other clerics, and restored to internal official functions. All of this in the name of mercy, rehabilitation, and accompaniment.
The point here is not to deny the possibility of Christian forgiveness. It is to note an uncomfortable fact: institutional mercy has been applied with extreme generosity in a case of objectively monstrous crimes, while it proves non-existent in the face of an ambiguous verbal comment, with no identifiable recipient and no real consequences.
The Double Standard as a System
The message being sent is devastating. Not all faults carry the same weight. Not all profiles receive the same treatment. Indulgence seems to abound when a scandal affects delicate internal balances or consolidated power networks. But it disappears instantly when the person singled out represents a vision of the Church that some wish to eradicate.
In this context, the “Agostini case” ceases to be an anecdotal episode and becomes a structural symptom. Tradition is not corrected: it is punished. And once the decision is made, a poorly captured audio, an open microphone, and a biased interpretation are enough to justify a downfall orchestrated through specific media and by specific people.
Would you like me to help you draft a summary of these points or perhaps compare this text with official Vatican statements on the matter?
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