Vatican rumor-mill spins
relentlessly By Francesco Sisci
ROME - Shortly after Joseph Ratzinger was
elected Pope in 2005 and took the name of Benedict
XVI, a very reputable Italian bimonthly, Limes,
published an essay revealing the ballots cast for
the new Pope. It was the first time since papal
elections in a secret conclave were started some
half a millennium ago that the result of a vote
was made public.
It was a serious breach
of secrecy and of a procedure established to
choose the head of the Catholic Church in a way
that was democratic and free of external
interference. The conclave also serves to
guarantee that past divisions would be forgotten
and mended after the undisclosed consultation.
The leak and the alleged revelation that
reaching a consensus about Ratzinger required
strenuous effort, implied that some Catholics were
very dissatisfied with the choice, to the point of
breaching a sacred vow of
secrecy. Moreover, as only cardinals are admitted
in a conclave, it indicated that at least one
cardinal had broken a very strong pledge of
confidentiality.
That essay might have
been based on false information, but in the
following years, the growing trickle of news,
rumors, letters, and documents stamped and signed
by the Pope's closest collaborators, culminating
in the recent book Sua Santita - le carte
segrete di Benedetto XVI by Gianluigi Nuzzi,
casts a different light on the whole issue. The
leaks, no matter how they are interpreted, were
intended to show that Pope Benedict is unable to
govern the Church, which is torn by ferocious
infighting between the most senior cardinals. This
in turn proves that there is deep-seated,
unrelenting opposition to this Pope within the
Church and, because of the nature of this news,
the opposition comes from very close to the Pope
himself.
None of the documents challenges
Benedict's theological positions - it is almost as
if his religious leadership is to remain
undisputed - but all point to his faults in ruling
the Holy See. In a way, the leaks draw a subtle
line between religious and temporal powers of this
strange little state (the tiniest in the world)
with a huge organization (the largest unitary
religion on Earth, with over one billion
followers, and influence over billions more of
other religious believers). In this way, they have
already begun the election campaign for the new
Pope.
If this is the case, the important
issue for the next elections is to undermine
Benedict's legacy, something not easy at the
moment. He has chosen over 60 of the about 120
cardinals who could seat in the next conclave.
Therefore Ratzinger has already set the direction
for the choice of his successor. He could well be
Italian since in contrast to past selections,
Ratzinger has gone back to choosing many new
cardinals from among the Italians. In fact, most
revelations steer clear of the global issues
engulfing the Church.
The problem of child
molestation in America is described in the
documents as a simple financial issue: all the
money to be paid to the accusers to avert
humiliating public trials. No account is given of
the many tormenting social and ethical problems of
the Church in America, such as the holy confession
or the role of nuns. The very intricate problem of
the Church in China, object of a complex
theological letter by the Pope, becomes almost a
vignette with Hong Kong's Cardinal Joseph Zen
pressing the Secretary of State Tarciso Bertone on
the choice of this or that bishop.
As with
the scandal with the former head of the IOR
(Istituto Opere Religiose, the Vatican Bank)
Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, all revelations are about
the growing ethereal divisions between Italy, the
Italian or Italianized cardinals of the Curia who
are struggling with one another, and the Holy See.
The global mission of the Church is, in these
leaks, a distant shadow. The accusations bombard
Bertone, seemingly unable to govern the Curia,
including alleged bribes and kickbacks about the
gardens or even the electric appliances in the
Vatican citadel. They detail the widespread
opposition to the secretary of state, and the
Pope's stubborn defense of his right-hand man.
The documents stress one point: the Holy
See has become too Italian, strung in a web of
petty politicking that has more to do with Italy's
nasty and corrupt power politics and much less to
do with the goals of the faith. The solution then
should be, accordingly, to bring order back to the
Curia and detach the Holy See from Italy. This is
the profile of the mission of the new Pope, and
this is in a nutshell what the revelations are
about.
We don't know if this is true.
What is true is that Ratzinger, like his
predecessor Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II, is not
running the Curia and is far removed from the
Vatican's earthly affairs. However, Wojtyla had
Angelo Sodano as his secretary of state, a very
experienced diplomat who managed the Curia with an
iron fist. Bertone conversely has little or no
diplomatic background, and he is allegedly more at
home with Italian politics than with global
affairs and less efficient in managing his Curial
colleagues.
Moreover, Wojtyla met all
kinds of people all the time. Ratzinger is
extremely reserved, shy, and more at ease with his
books and a few close friends than with
entertaining guests. This can't go on, the leaks
suggest. Then the next Pope has to be able to have
a hand in the administration; he must be able to
get the Curia, and thus the Church, back in order.
The criticism may be true and reasonable.
However, the way in which it has been expressed
and made public "and the array of details about
smear campaigns, corruption, intrigue, ungodly
ambition, ties with the underworld, and sexual
scandal" portray a church similar to that of the
Borgias'. It was a time shortly before Martin
Luther started his reformation movement, which
broke apart Western Christianity. Then in these
leaks, there is the smell (or stench, depending on
the taste) of a schism.
In fact, besides
the scandals, there is a great theological debate
between different and deep undercurrents in the
Church.
Presently, greater communication
and greater integration has underscored the
necessity of being more rooted in one's own
specific reality. So, many Catholic communities
want to elect their own bishops, feeling
misrepresented by Rome's choices of Nuncios, the
Pope's emissaries in the different countries who
also help the Pope in the selection of local
bishops. Many Nuncios feel wronged or worthless
because once in Rome, the Pope or the secretary of
state does not devote enough time and attention to
conferring with them about local issues. In sum,
the bond between Rome and the rest of the Church,
the very essence of the unity and global influence
of the Catholic faith, has become more tenuous,
weaker. Then the spread of stories of Roman plots
and conspiracies can do the rest by breaking the
last source of unity in the Church: the central
authority of the Pope.
Is someone in the
Church posing a veiled threat: either you get your
house in order or the Church will explode? Is
someone preparing for a schism in Rome in any
case? Is this just stupid chaos running out of
control? Are foreign powers playing up the
possibility of breaking up the Church, which has
grown too powerful and invasive in a world
dominated by superpowers?
These are some
of questions spreading in Rome while the rumor
mill keeps going.
But there are growing
problems in the life of the Church. Americans,
bringing in the largest financial contributions to
the Church, complain that they are harangued by
the Europeans for being "deviant", but American
churches are full and European churches are empty.
Common Catholic followers feel shunned and almost
second-class followers as Rome tries to reach out
to non-Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Muslims and
even atheists.
"The idea that reason will
lead to faith, proposed so strongly by Ratzinger,
is bold and most intriguing intellectually, but
most Catholic people are not intellectuals and
feel neglected and as if they are not smart enough
to go to the mass. Yet these are most of the
people who go to communion, who are the Church;
the others simply don't," says Vatican expert
Carlo Marroni.
It is almost a situation
like in the evangelical story of the prodigal son.
When the father kills a fat lamb for the returning
child, the loyal children, the ones who stayed
behind, feel wronged.
To top it all, as
always in the history of Christianity, there are
also deep theological issues tearing apart the
Catholic body. Some theologians blame other
Catholics for being somehow close to other
positions of the Christian faith. "Christ will
arrive at the end of time. That is, perfection is
not of this world. This is what the Pope is
defending and what some groups have qualms with",
summarizes a theologian, explaining this was at
the core of Rome's dispute against the Theology of
Liberation, which swept Latin America in the 1970s
bringing priests close to communist activists.
The issue has powerful consequences: then
Christians should try to improve things, but have
to know that they cannot change the world. The
other side argues that Catholics should take
active charge otherwise the Church ends up siding
against political change and being conservative,
an old accusation against Catholics in many parts
of the world.
In all of this, the Pope has
not intervened forcefully. He tries to reason and
argue but always in very soft manner. He tries to
keep everybody together and happy, but this may
sometimes dangerously lead to everybody being
unhappy. People close to this Pope promise he is
extremely good-hearted and forgiving. When he was
head of the Office of the Doctrine of the Faith,
he always acted on direct orders of Pope Wojtyla,
who, under a soft appearance, hid a steel
conception of what Catholicism should be. Wojtyla
might have wanted Ratzinger in that position for
his culture but also for his good heart, which
would help him in carrying out his difficult job
with the piety necessary for the Catholic Church.
But Pope Ratzinger without Wojtyla's stern
eye might now be too soft and perhaps too
indecisive for the necessities of this Church,
argue some priests in Rome.
Is this his
problem? Or the problem of those who try to force
his hand and prepare already for his demise? Or
are the problems of the church and the world grown
too complicated for Rome to handle them? Are some
powerful priests, bishops or even cardinals
pushing to break the church or to set it to a very
different course?
None of these questions
are clearly raised in Nuzzi's book or the other
leaked stories, and none of the delicate
theological issues surrounding the scandals are
brought up. This of all the mysteries of this case
seems the biggest. Are then the leaks so naive or
so smart? This brings us back to beginning, to the
alleged ballots cast for Ratzinger's election.
Francesco Sisci is a columnist
for the Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore and can be
reached at fsisci@gmail.com.
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