Defector in the Household

Among more than one hundred prelates in the papal household, Monsignor Giovanni Musante, 53, was one of the elite. A staunch theological conservative, he had worked loyally for more than a decade in the vicariate of Rome, which governs the Pope's own diocese, and was a member of the Vatican's litur gical commission; a year ago, on the occasion of his 25th anniversary to the priesthood, Musante was given a title reserved for the privileged few: chaplain to the Pope. Last week the Vatican reluctantly admitted that Monsignor Mu sante had gone the way of so many of his fellow priests these days: after five months of consideration, Pope Paul VI had granted him permission to leave the priesthood and marry.

Rome reacted almost as if the Pope himself had run off with Gina Lollobrigida. The respected Roman daily Il Messaggero wondered ungallantly (and, as it turned out, incorrectly) whether the priest's prospective bride might be pregnant. Priests in the vicariate clucked disapprovingly about Musante's strange behavior these past few months. "Many of us were convinced," said one primly, "that Monsignor Musante was a sick man. Recently he didn't seem him self at all. Perhaps he was the victim of some form of sexual delirium." The most notable change in Musante: he re cently went on a diet, lost as much as 60 lbs. from his portly frame.

The news of Musante's decision was clearly an embarrassment to the Pope. Obviously, a defection within his own household would make it all the harder for Paul to insist on the importance of priestly celibacy, which he defended against mounting criticism in a 1967 encyclical and has reiterated frequently since. Vatican press officials clamped a tight if belated lid on the story, brusquely denying the rumor that a Roman archbishop might perform the marriage ceremony. But before the week was out, church officials were forced to admit that two years ago, another high-ranking priest, the rector of a Jesuit college in Rome, had similarly been released from his vows by the Pope to marry.

As for the subject of all the buzz, he kept out of sight for 48 hours, then turned up in Rome with his wife-to-be. She is Giovanna Carlevaro, an attractive woman of 38, whom he met at a friend's house last November. They will be married "soon," said Musante, but the exact time and place is secret. What his new occupation will be, Musante does not yet. know. "In case of need, I would not hesitate at manual labor."

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