STORM IN THE HOLY SEE

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.      

    

DUVALIER CHARGED WITH CORRUPTION AND EMBEZZLEMENT

From the New York Times:

Haitian prosecutors presented formal charges of corruption and embezzlement against the former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier on Tuesday, raising the level of uncertainty surrounding his abrupt emergence from exile this week.

The case, which involves acts that he is accused of committing before fleeing the country nearly 25 years ago, was presented at the end of a dramatic day during which Mr. Duvalier, one of Haiti’s most polarizing figures, was escorted by heavily armed police officers out of his hotel. Clusters of supporters shouted in outrage, calling for “revolution” and threatening to burn the country down.

Mr. Duvalier, 59, wearing a pin-stripe suit and looking fragile, waved back with one hand while he held onto his companion, Véronique Roy, with the other.

As the police convoy made its way downtown, Mr. Duvalier’s supporters cheered from the roadside. Some tried to block the procession by heaving chunks of concrete and garbage containers onto the road. The crowds eventually thinned, and Mr. Duvalier arrived at a courthouse without further incident.
....

Amnesty International offered muted praise about Haiti’s decision to pursue a case against Mr. Duvalier, calling it a good start.

“If true justice is to be done in Haiti,” the group said in a statement, “the Haitian authorities need to open a criminal investigation into Duvalier’s responsibility for the multitude of human rights abuses that were committed under his rule, including torture, arbitrary detentions, rape, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.”

"[A] good start." We shall see.

Pray for the people of Haiti. Pray for peace in Haiti.