Google+
 
Pagina precedente | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 » | Pagina successiva

BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Ultimo Aggiornamento: 23/08/2021 11:16
Autore
Stampa | Notifica email    
21/08/2012 13:33
OFFLINE
Post: 25.382
Post: 7.877
Registrato il: 28/08/2005
Registrato il: 20/01/2009
Administratore
Utente Master


Still making up for my relative inactivity, not by choice, in the past few days, so here's a take on the recent developments on Vatileaks by a book author and prolific commentator, who is also a sociologist of religion and founder of CESNUR, the Turin-based center for the study of new religions.

He makes some interesting points but I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Vatileaks, as 'minor' and 'virtually over', even if it turns out that it really was just an impromptu operation. One fueled by a fanatical but simple-minded fly - a fly he is, for all his megalomania - who willingly walked into the parlor of a fattened tarantula, a person who had fairly recently made his name and hefty royalties by writing about the unsavory secrets of IOR in the decades that included the Banco Ambrosiano scandal through to the end of the Sodano stranglehold on IOR that took even Benedict XVI a few years to pry loose. Oh yes, Paoletto was succulent and easy prey indeed for the smug, opportunistic Gianluigi Nuzzi who did not even have to seek him out! And there will be those peripheral characters orbiting the Apostolic Palace (which also houses the Secretariat of State) who might have gladly joined the game, if only to vent their hostility, perhaps, against Cardinal Bertone, or even the Pope himself.

Introvigne's first point bears repeating over and over, nonetheless: Exactly what did the Gabriele-Nuzzi operation reveal that was not already known, and more importantly, what was there in it that constituted serious scandal?


Vatileaks: 'What secrets were revealed anyway?
This was nothing but a commercial operation'

Interview with Massimo Introvigne
by Carlo Melato
Translated from

August 14, 2012

A check for 100,000 euros made out to the Holy Father, a nugget of gold and a 16th century copy of the Aeneid - valuable objects found in the apartment of ex-papal valet Paolo Gabriele, among copies of all the documents he helped himself to in the Pope's study.

He has now been indicted for aggravated theft and will face trial in a Vatican court this autumn, along with an accomplice who aided and abetted him to carry on with his betrayal of the Pope.

And so the Vatileaks scandal continues, even if some pieces of the puzzle appear to have fallen into place. It was Gabriele alone who provided Gianluigi Nuzzi with all the documents he published in the book Sua Santita, just as he was the hooded man who showed up on TV about two weeks before his arrest, admitting to be the 'mole' who dug up the dirt for Nuzzi, although he claimed at the time that he was just one of about 20 who were all committed to stealing and divulging confidential documents 'for the good of the Church'.

Interviewed for this online journal, Massimo Introvigne, sociologist of religion and devout Catholic, said: "In my opinion, one can have two separate reflections about this episode. On the one hand, the event in itself, which is definitely serious - that the Pope was surrounded by people who rummaged around in his files and provided confidential documents to newsmen. [And that's an unacceptable hyperbole that's also untrue, and slanders the other members of the Pontifical Family! Just one of them was treasonous, and he passed on the fruits of his loot to one journalist.] On the other hand, consider the content of those documents! Reading Nuzzi's book, all I could say was, 'And is this all?'"

Are you saying that the best-seller has disappointed expectations?
Look, whatever was published brought up little that was not already known to and reported by the Vatican press corps. Yet the publicity barrage had led the public to believe that we would find malversations on an international scale and sinful behavior by some of the most prominent bishops and cardinals.

And what did we get?
Instead we discover obvious things, such as that the church movements do give their opinions, when asked, about candidates for episcopal nomination. That Ettore Gotti Tedeschi openly spoke about the reorganization of IOR as he had been doing in numerous interviews. We read with some boredom that whenever a bishop's seat becomes vacant. not a few monsignors think of themselves as the ideal candidate.

Perhaps the most interesting was the correspondence between the Vatican and the Church in China, both the clandestine as well as the official. Except that some of those involved in the letters may end up in a Chinese gulag.

In short, heaven grant that the desks of the world's most powerful leaders could hold so little that is compromising! [Let me be uncharitable and wager that Nuzzi was probably dismayed to tears to find out there was nothing in the purloined papers that could be used in any way against Benedict XVI, so he wisely adverts the reader early in his introduction not to expect any such material!]

What do you think of the Vatican reaction to the leaks?
The fact is serious and it has been rightly considered seriously by the Church. The machinery of Vatican justice is in motion, and that happens rarely!

What do you think motivated those who were responsible for all this?
Despite everything that has been written, I refuse to believe that the people responsible for this were motivated by doing good for the Church. [Gabriele claims that, and he is, of course delusional; but Nuzzi really does not. He couldn't care less about the Church. His head is in the clouds with the headlines, his moment in the spotlight, and by yet another best-seller, there being enough suckers who have bought his book for its curiosity value.]

To begin with, no cleansing has been done ['Cleansing' in what sense? Firing people under pressure? The purification continually invoked by the Pope is internal and individual!] and they have not dug out any dark sepulchres.

I am instead convinced that the operation was commercial. Someone took money to steal the documents, the book became a best-seller, and it's all about the money. No one cares about the many crimes that have been committed in these, not the Vatican courts, and not the Italian which will not intervene for political reasons. [That's a strangely cynical attitude to take, considering that the Vatican magistrate has said the more serious crimes - and others who may be involved besides the Gabriele and Nuzzi - will continue to be investigated, even if it will be a 'difficult and laborious' task to do so. It also ignores the Pope's own interest that the full truth come out about this episode.]

Nonetheless, one is struck by the success of a propaganda operation aimed at the uninformed and based on documents that are for the most part verging on irrelevance.

Do you think that this episode is drawing to a conclusion?
I would say so, because I look at this story as something of a micro-plot that has allowed some media to scream out that in the bosom of the Church there are unspeakable secrets that some fearless journalist has dared to expose. [No plot, micro or otherwise, was needed for the MSM to do that - it was already their modus operandi in reporting about the Church. Peddling the age-old myth that the men of the Church themselves - without exception, as it were - are the most egregious and grievous offenders of all the Gospel values that they preach.]

And is the hunt for traitors within the Vatican also over and done with?
The traitor was the butler. I wouldn't go hunting for one among the cardinals. Perhaps he was aided by this computer specialist or some other secretaries or clerks. Whoever goes from the Secretariat of State to the pontifical household is well aware how many people shuttle between those corridors.

What measures should the Holy See take in the future?
Just a better job of choosing personnel, because it is inevitable that persons doing their respective tasks will have access to the papal apartment. [More concretely and practically, 24-hour camera surveillance of the Pope's study, and a daily conscientious review of the tapes thereof! One must assume the Vatican Gendarmerie took steps to do that right away after arresting Gabriele. And Mons. Gaenswein, let the valet be the valet and/or go-fer, not a clerk to do minor tasks for you!]
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 21/08/2012 13:34]
Amministra Discussione: | Chiudi | Sposta | Cancella | Modifica | Notifica email Pagina precedente | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 » | Pagina successiva
Nuova Discussione
 | 
Rispondi
Cerca nel forum

Feed | Forum | Bacheca | Album | Utenti | Cerca | Login | Registrati | Amministra
Crea forum gratis, gestisci la tua comunità! Iscriviti a FreeForumZone
FreeForumZone [v.6.1] - Leggendo la pagina si accettano regolamento e privacy
Tutti gli orari sono GMT+01:00. Adesso sono le 23:18. Versione: Stampabile | Mobile
Copyright © 2000-2024 FFZ srl - www.freeforumzone.com