Andres Garcia Torres, Spanish Priest, Defends Friendship With Seminary Student

A priest in Spain named Father Andres Garcia Torres defended a friendship (and the following picture) with a seminary student from Cuba by telling the Vatican: "Let them measure my anus and see if it is dilated."  I wonder how one says that in Latin?  It sounds like a line from Petronius's Satyricon.  Too academic?  Anyways, Father Torres reacted vehemently to the allegations by Bishop Getafe of Madrid that the picture below was evidence that Torres was getting jiggy with the Cuban exchange student (Thank you, 90s era Will Smith for the lingo).  Naturally, like practically every other Catholic priest accused (rightly or wrongly) of fraternizing with his parishioners, Torres claims that the accusations are false, which precipitated the comment above.  The Vatican has begun an investigation of Father Torres, who is now in danger of losing his parish in Spain.  In fact, according to dlisted, Bishop Getafe is demanding Torres's "resignation, a psychiatric evaluation, and an HIV test."  Wow.  There is as of yet no word on how the young man in the picture, named Yannick Delgado, is reacting to the allegations.

"Who says I can't spend quality alone time with this penurious, helpless Cuban seminary student?"

Frankly, the photo does appear a little suspect, mostly because both men are posing with their shirts off and are in very close proximity to one another, but this is Europe after all.  I am sure the two men went fishing naked in a small, secluded corner of Galicia, and after spending several hours alone in a cave decided to post some lighthearted pics to their respective Facebook pages.  Happens all the time.  Seriously though, the controversy surrounding this picture can be primarily attributed to: (1) the fact that the young man in the photo is handsome and is giving a dreamy-eyed pose, and (2) the prevalence of allegations of rape or other sexual misconduct by priests in the last fifty years.  If it were not for the sexual misconduct of Father Torres's peers all over the world (exposed by parents, journalists, muckrakers and the like), this sort of photo would not be newsworthy.  For one thing, it's just a picture of one guy with his arm around another guy (whether or not a priest should be shirtless in a picture is a separate issue).  It's not like they were cock wrestling or anything.  There was no suspicious milky white fluid visible anywhere.  Perhaps Bishop Getafe is the one that should be investigated since his interpretation of the picture (and the furor with which he began this investigation) may suggest that he has something to hide.  A recent study suggests that homophobic men are more likely to be aroused by gay porn than men that are not homophobes.  Something to think about.  I'll hold my tongue before I say that Father Torres is completely innocent since this is just the sort of case where other incriminating evidence pops up.  And I would hate to be the person asked to measure the dilation of Father Torres's anus.