Vatican rocked by usher's gay sex scandal

Ghinedu Ehiem, a Nigerian who sang in the Giulia Choir at St. Peter’s Basilica, was fired after Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica reported Wednesday that he had arranged men, including seminarians, for Angelo Balducci, a former member of the board of Italy’s public works department who was detained and jailed last month on corruption charges.

Ehiem name appeared in transcripts of police wiretaps, published by the Italian newspaper, in connection with a probe into corruption in contracts to build public works, including the planned venue in Sardinia of last year's G8 summit. 

Among four people arrested last month in the corruption case was Balducci, who is also a Vatican construction consultant.

Following his arrest, Balducci was dismissed from his post at the Vatican, as a member of "The Gentlemen of His Holiness", an elite group of ushers who serve at the Apostolic Palace when visiting dignitaries meet the pope.
 
According to excerpts of the wiretaps and police documents, Balducci and Ehiem had been in touch regularly prior to Balducci's arrest and the subject of their conversation was gay sex.

During some one year of taped conversations, Ehiem described the physiques of various men to Balducci. “I have a situation from Naples,” Ehiem says, according to La Repubblica. “I have a situation from Cuba,” he says in another, continuing with “a German who just arrived from Germany,” “two black guys,” “the soccer player” and “the dancer for the RAI” Italian state broadcaster.