Paolo Gabriele riding in front of the pope
An already sordid scandal over leaked Vatican documents took a Hollywood-like turn Saturday with confirmation that the pope's own butler had been arrested after documents he had no business having were found in his Vatican City apartment.The pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, allegedly did it...stole the documents.
The tumult began with the publication last weekend of a book of leaked Vatican documents detailing power struggles, political intrigue and corruption in the highest levels of Catholic Church governance. It peaked with the inglorious ouster on Thursday of the president of the Vatican bank. And it concluded with confirmation Saturday that Pope Benedict XVI's own butler was the alleged mole feeding documents to Italian journalists in an apparent bid to discredit the pontiff's No. 2.Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the president of the Vatican Bank, aka the Institute for Religious Works (I am not joking!) was fired. Carl Anderson, a member of the board of the bank said you can't make this stuff up. As the Fonz would say, "Heeeeey!"
The Vatileaks scandal began in January when Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi broadcast letters from the former No. 2 Vatican administrator to the pope in which he begged not to be transferred for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions of euros in higher contract prices. The prelate, Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano, is now the Vatican's U.S. ambassador.Sooo, the former No 2 man is now exiled to the U.S., the equivalent of Siberia to Vatican insiders, and the present No. 2 man in the Vatican, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, is in hot water.
Bertone, 77, has been blamed for a series of gaffes and management problems that have plagued Benedict's papacy and, according to the leaked documents, generated a not inconsiderable amount of ill will directed at him from other Vatican officials.Can't the pope trust anyone? Perhaps the butler did not realize he was playing with the big boys. According to the Vatican spokesman, Msgr Federico Lombardi, Paolo is in detention in the Vatican and is being investigated.
I hope I've got the complicated story more or less right, as it's not easy to follow. Read the article, and correct me if I've made mistakes.
Meanwhile back in Siberia - er - the U.S., the Roman Catholic bishops are moving ahead to deprive their female employees of health insurance coverage for birth control.
Picture from Wikipedia.
Thanks to all who sent me links to the story of the shenanigans in the Vatican.
The butler is lucky he wasn't poisoned.
ReplyDeleteCan you believe this? The intrigue reminds me of late medieval/early Renaissance times in Rome and Florence.
ReplyDeleteWhere Dan Brown when we need him?
ReplyDeleteDan Brown wouldn't work for me.;-)
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, thanks for your comment. Next time you leave a word, please make up a name and sign your comment.
I wonder about the butler's legal safeguards given that it seems to be Vatican law not Italian law and Vatican law makes the Pope absolute dictator.
ReplyDeleteI should point out that female spouses of employees are likely also being denied (assuming they are covered for for other health) and men seeking vasectomies probably aren't covered either.
Erp, I wondered about the law in the Vatican state, too. I'm reading gossip now that the butler was set up, that he was not at all the type to do something like this. And why did he leave the documents in so obvious a location? We shall see.
ReplyDeleteYes, what the bishops want cuts a wide swath.
My favorite statement on the Vatican bank business? Robert Mickens, Rome correspondent for The Tablet, is quoted in The Independent, observing ""They gave him [Gotti Tedeschi, the fired head of the bank] the job knowing that he had a reputation for integrity, but they also assumed that as a member of Opus Dei, he would not rock the boat. The trouble is, some people do have moral and ethical standards and are prepared to stick to them. As to why senior Vatican figures are opposed to the rules being retroactive, well, you can draw your own conclusions."
ReplyDeleteI loved the Newsthump (UK Onion) headline:
ReplyDelete"Vatican Draws Line at Abuse of Its Money"
Too funny and too tragic, JCF.
ReplyDeleteThe Vatican made a quick arrest in the leaks, surely. Apparently, leaks are worse than child abuse. The latest from Reuters:
ReplyDelete“The act he (the pope) has been subjected to is brutal,” [Archbishop Angelo] Becciu said. “Benedict XVI has seen the publication of papers stolen from his house.”
Brutal!
Such a bunch of old women. Reminds me of the joke, heard as a child, "Consternation in the Convent - a lavatory seat found up".
ReplyDelete