Vatican Farce Continues

No respite for pope as more documents leaked
REUTERS | 2012-06-03 15:42:00
http://www.newsday.co.zw/article/2012-06-03-no-respite-for-pope-as-more-documents-leaked/

MILAN- Pope Benedict got no rest on Sunday from a leaks scandal when
an Italian newspaper published documents showing that his butler was
not the only person in possession of confidential correspondence
indicating a Vatican in disarray.

Benedict, 85, ended a weekend trip to Italy's industrial and financial
capital Milan with a closing mass for an international gathering in
which he praised traditional Catholic family values and re-stated his
opposition to gay marriage.

But in its Sunday edition, the Rome newspaper La Repubblica published
documents it said it had received anonymously after the arrest of the
pope's butler on May 23.

A note received by the newspaper said there were "hundreds more"
documents and that the butler, Paolo Gabriele, was just a scapegoat.

The furore over the leaked correspondence, which shows power-hungry
cardinals and scheming within the walls of the city state, has gripped
the Vatican just as it was recovering from a long-running scandal over
sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in the United States, Ireland
and other countries.

One letter, dated January 16, was sent by Cardinal Raymond Burke, an
American who heads a Vatican department, to the pope's secretary of
state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Burke complains that a decision regarding a liturgical matter was
taken without consulting his office, which is responsible for such
matters.

The person who sent Repubblica the documents also provided two letters
signed by the pope's private secretary, Monsignor Georg Ganswein. The
newspaper said those letters had everything but the letterhead and the
signature whited out.

The newspaper said that in the note accompanying the documents, the
person who sent them said the contents had been whited out "so as not
to offend the Holy Father" but threatened to reveal the contents.

BUTLER HELD IN VATICAN "SAFE ROOM"

The butler Gabriele, who is being held in a "safe room" in the
Vatican's police station, is expected to be questioned this week by a
Vatican prosecutor who will decide if there are grounds to order him
to stand trial.

Gabriele, 45, is currently being held on charges of aggravated theft
but if he is charged with divulging state secrets he could receive a
prison sentence of up to 30 years.

The person who sent the documents to the paper said Bertone and
Ganswein were "those really responsible for this scandal".

During his weekend trip to Milan, the pope has made no reference to
the affair, which began in January 2011 when an Italian television
show first aired leaked documents alleging cronyism and corruption in
the Vatican.

Last week, Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published the book "His
Holiness," which contained more documents.

In his sermon closing the event in Milan, the pope, speaking to a
crowd of one million who had come from as far away as Zimbabwe and New
Zealand, stressed again that the family must be based on marriage
between man and woman and open to the possibility of having children.

The ceremony at a park in Milan's northern outskirts was attended by
Italian leaders including Prime Minister Mario Monti.

The pope made no mention of the leaks scandal but spoke of the damage
to family life that modern society can inflict.

"The one-sided logic of sheer utility and maximum profit are not
conducive to harmonious development, to the good of the family or to
building a more just society" he said.

"(This) brings in its wake ferocious competition, strong inequalities,
degradation of the environment, the race for consumer goods, family
tensions," he said.

--
Ferrit

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