The Pope, the butler and the cardinal
For centuries, unimpeachable historical evidence shows that the Vatican has been a hive of intrigue, political jockeying for position and corruption.
Murder, cruelty, hypocrisy, dishonesty and sexual depravity among supposedly morally infallible popes have not been unknown. This is, after all, an institution not made in heaven, and it is subject to all the weaknesses and vicissitudes to which man is prey.
This is why what is currently happening in the Vatican is of such interest to us as a Catholic country, now at last with a Cardinal of our own. Given that, according to a recently leaked document, the Cardinal Archbishop of Palermo has said that 85-year-old Benedict will be dead by the end of this year, recent events are of ever-growing interest to the faithful in Malta who will in due course pack St Peter’s Square in Rome to await the first puff of white smoke to celebrate the election of a new pope.
The current saga started almost farcically with Pope Benedict’s butler (shades of what the butler saw) being placed in a cell, accused of leaking a host of confidential letters to a journalist, who subsequently broke the story of intrigue and skulduggery. The papal butler’s incarceration was followed the next day by the dismissal of the head of the Vatican Bank, Gotti Tedeschi, by the Pope’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
Tedeschi’s dismissal was accompanied by a scathing statement accusing him of failing to do his job properly.
An Italian police investigation has fanned fears of more scandalous revelations still to come.
In the manner of Roberto Calvi, the prominent Italian banker found hanging from Waterloo Bridge in London in mysterious circumstances in the 1980s, Tedeschi has since been quoted as saying that he fears for his life.
Behind the row with Tedeschi and the jailing of the Pope’s butler lies an intense, no-holds-barred power struggle to determine the nature of the next papacy.
It is a battle being waged in and around the Vatican’s financial institutions, for herein power lies. The Institute for Works of Religion, as the Vatican Bank is quaintly known, is no stranger to controversy as it was accused in the 1980s of involvement in financial chicanery, including the death of Calvi.
It appears that Tedeschi had opposed a new law, backed by Cardinal Bertone, that increased the Secretary of State’s powers at the expense of the existing, independent oversight body.
The change fitted a wider pattern of the acquisition of ever greater influence by Cardinal Bertone since his return to the Vatican six years ago.
The 77-year-old Cardinal was the Pope’s right-hand man when the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger headed the department on the enforcement of doctrinal orthodoxy.
He is not a true Vatican insider and his underlings in the Secretary of State’s office resent the punchy, football-loving former archbishop for his lack of diplomatic experience.
Intrigue is a staple diet in the Vatican as it is in any other bureaucratic institution where office politics play an inevitable role.
What makes this conflict special, however, is Cardinal Bertone’s repeated efforts to wrest the levers of financial control from others. The Cardinal’s enemies say that this is a grab for the patronage that goes with them. Last year he tried to make the Vatican Bank rescue a debt-ridden hospital and Mr Tedeschi’s refusal to do so presaged their latest row.
To strengthen his position further, Cardinal Bertone has promoted three close associates and former subordinates from his north-west Italy region to positions in charge of the Vatican’s treasury, the Vatican’s central bank and as governor of the Vatican City State, the Holy See’s temporal power-base which also carries great financial clout. All three men were promoted to Cardinal in February.
These promotions have intensified suspicion among Cardinal Bertone’s critics that he is trying to pack the Conclave that will elect the next pope with his own people.
However, for a Secretary of State to ascend to the throne of St Peter is rare, the only example in the last 350 years being Pius XII in 1939.
Whatever his ambitions, Cardinal Bertone is proving a divisive figure. Many had hoped that as a relative outsider to Vatican politics, he would bring transparency, accountability and innovation to a highly centralised bureaucratic machine which was last reformed 45 years ago. The earlier years of Pope Benedict’s papacy saw a succession of diplomatic gaffes from clerical child sex abuse to the mishandling of contraception, homosexuality and Aids, which many Vatican officials blamed on his inexperience.
As long as Cardinal Bertone remains Secretary of State, the infighting in the Vatican seems likely to continue, and the outside world’s concerns about its administration and governance will remain.
The papacy is an institution of great antiquity, history, riches and splendour. It commands admiration even when there is no specific allegiance. It is an institution which appeals to the imagination and our collective sense of history.
But the papacy also has a need to keep its traditions alive by a judicious openness to change.
In this the papacy has a hard task, since it rests ultimately upon theological doctrines that are facing growing challenges.
The papacy has yet to adapt to modern mores, and this will undoubtedly have to await the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI’s successor. As this latest saga shows, manoeuvring for that event is well under way.
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Roger Vella Bonavita
Aug 30th 2012, 13:12
Dear Mr Farrugia,
No problem. You are a gentleman Sir!
Best wishes
Roger VB
Andy Farrugia
Aug 30th 2012, 16:46
I thank you for your kindness, understanding and magnanimity, Dr Vella Bonavita. Keep well.
Roger Vella Bonavita
Aug 29th 2012, 17:27
Andy Farrugia. There is nothing wrong with my use of the word 'were' .
Edward Mallia surely knows that various popes have claimed infallibility over the centuries - the doctrine did not come out of thin air. It was only fully adopted during the (unfinished) first Vatican Council. Were earlier claims spurious then? There is an interesting account of the claim in a volume I presented to the library of the University of Malta some 35 years ago. The title runs 'Il Triomfo della Santa Sede' (or words similar to that). It was printed if I recall correctly in the late eigtheenth century. The way things are turning out at the Vatican is very worrying - and this has nothing to do with the doctrine of papal infallibility I hasten to add. I am sure anyone who has followed the long saga being played out there cannot but be concerned and sadly many are disillusioned. Just because some correspondents of this newspaper are familiar with what is happening at La Santa Sede does not mean that no one else is entitled to comment.
Dr Roger Vella Bonavita
Perth, Western Australia
Andy Farrugia
Aug 29th 2012, 23:26
@ Dr Roger Vella Bonavita
I am honest and decent enough to apologise in the most profuse manner for my insulting and offensive barbs. I still disagree with your take on the matter, but my response was totally uncalled for, erratic and beside the point. I humbly ask you to accept my apology.
Monica Muscat
Aug 28th 2012, 21:04
A very good article indeed. Actually so balanced that you do not manage to guess the intimate opinion of the writer. Yes, the Vatican wheels are inevitably oiled by acts by both the Good and the Bad! Nothing new to those who really accept the idea that the Church is Christ - Divine and ALWAYS infallible - but his field workers are Human and behave as such - the eternal battle between Good and Evil, Right and Wrong is felt the more in sensitive places linked to the Church. Even the Pope himself, (....setting aside the bad, old and corrupt Popes and Anti-Popes...who rot in Hell) is Infallible only when he speaks Ex Catedra. That is why these events are getting fewer and fewer as the World and Christian mentality changes, as time has proved that when a Pope spoke Ex Catedra it triggered some schsim. And separation of the "brothers" has always been a thorn in the side of Good and Saintly Popes, especially Pope John XXIII, whom I venerate as a Saint. Actually, the pivotal point of his calling Vatican Council was to stress the need of unity amongst believers. Yet, as was expected, the "upheavel" he caused by Vatican Council II, brought on him, yes, much love and admiration from the many, but as much antipathy from others who so many years after his death, stil consider him a "volcanic source of trouble"! That is the way of the world.
One final comment, again returning to Good Pope John. When Giovanni Roncalli had just been ordained, there was a conclave to elect a new Pope. Many were "quoting" one or other - but Pope Pius X was elected. The young priest Roncalli told his friends: "The Men at the top went round with the ploting a scheming, but the Holy Spirit played a joke on them and placed on his Earthly Throne a Good and Saintly man". Roncalli was right, of course, as Pope X was declared a Saint soon after his death.
So do not let any good Christian souls doubt the power of the Holy Spirit during any Conclave. Schemers are sure to be confounded!!
As for Pope Benedict. Who can say how long he will live. But come the day, let us all pray that we be given a Wise and Holy Man to guide the Church thru this difficult period and perhaps, prove to the doubters that
as promised by Christ Himself: "I shall be with you till the end of the World"
charles caruana
Aug 29th 2012, 11:37
Ms Muscat, unless you are using an ironical tone, you must be one of the very few who has not 'not manage[d] to guess the intimate opinion of the writer.' Either you are very shrewd, or very naive indeed.
Victor Rodenas
Aug 29th 2012, 11:40
The same on John XXIII (Il Papa Buono) They elected him Pope because they knew he was sick and will soon die, a transisional Pope they argued.But the Holy Spirit worked otherwise,.....Vat.Council II arrived.....
Gerry Cowie
Aug 28th 2012, 18:22
@Charles Grixti - what point are you actually trying to make heere? Mr Scicluna claims to be Catholic, so naturally one wants to know where he stands on these issues and what his proof is when he writes about them. What is wrong with that?
As for Peter de Rosa, if you do your research a little more thoroughly, rather than try to score points, you would know that Peter de Rosa left the priesthood with some bitterness as he could not accept certain Church teachings.
Emanuel Muscat
Aug 28th 2012, 18:08
Peter the roman is the last pope and he is supposed to be who follows the present Benedict!
Roger Vella Bonavita
Aug 28th 2012, 17:59
Edward Malliaevidently knows so much he is irritated when some one like Martin Scicluna tells him something he already knows. Us lesser mortals are grateful to writers like Martin Scicluna for presenting a cogent arguement based on observation and data and intelligently put together - so keep the articles coming Martin please!!
I cannot help reminding Edward Mallia that the Pope does claim infallibility in matters of faith and morals - when he speaks to the universal church - one would have serious doubts about the validity of this claim were a pope's personal morals less than impeccable and on this matter history is not on the side of the popes at all at all.
Dr Roger Vella Bonavita
Perth, Western Australia
Andy Farrugia
Aug 28th 2012, 19:42
".......one would have serious doubts about the validity of this claim were a pope's personal morals less than impeccable and on this matter history is not on the side of the popes at all at all."
The syntactic subtlety of your clause structure! Intriguing! And you're a doctor of sorts to boot! Fascinating! But the cherry on the cake must be your elementary confusion between "where" and "were". And I thought that even eight year olds would have been quite capable of mastering that! Endlessly hilarious!
Edward Mallia
Aug 28th 2012, 20:17
1.Being geographically nearer the Vactican I cannot help knowing "more" than self-described lesser mortals much further away. 2. Coming from a historian, the claim of "a cogent argument based on observation and data.." is a little surprising, to say the least. 3. Then again, there is NO claim to personal impeccability in the definition of the dogma of Infallibility, a fact easily checked by a historian. So one can take or leave "serious doubts" on personal papal morality; they have no relevance to the subject. By the way, the worst examplars who sat on Peter's chair never made any "infallibile" pronouncements. After all the doctrine of Infallibility is only 140 years old. Only one use of the definition has been made over that period. The peccability or otherwise of the pope responsible has been much debated; not so the dogma.
Mr ALBERT LEONE GANADO
Aug 29th 2012, 09:16
Like Edward I see very little informative value in this article by Martin Scicluna. When Martin talks and writes on public and social policy I enjoy his arguments, formulation and presentation. However when it comes to Vaticanology I would rather read the well established vaticanists who have the insider information rather than wade through speculative assumptions. It seems to be that MS has an axe to grind or a hang-up when it comes to dealing with the Catholic hierarchy.
charles caruana
Aug 28th 2012, 17:33
'Given that, according to a recently leaked document, the Cardinal Archbishop of Palermo has said that 85-year-old Benedict will be dead by the end of this year..' - such a statement shows up the abysmal level of investigative journalism and scholarly research that this johnny- come- lately, upstart vaticonologist is capable of. He obviously assumes the prophetic accuracy of the Palermitan Cardinal, and then goes on to build his ponzi pyramid of tired cliches and hackneyed conspiracy theories that rival Dan Brown, minus the febrile imagination of the latter of course. He even has the chutzpah to preach to the papacy and deliver oracular pronouncements on its future;'The papacy has yet to adapt to modern mores, and this will undoubtedly have to await the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI’s successor.' The sheer temerity, not to say delusional hubris of this last statement leave me breathless, especially when I compare the writer of this inanity with the minds and hearts of the Great John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
Patrick Zammit
Aug 28th 2012, 17:21
"Banco Ambrosiano collapsed in June 1982 following the discovery of debts (according to various sources) of between 700 million and 1.5 billion US dollars. Much of the money had been siphoned off via the Vatican Bank (strictly named the Istituto per le Opere Religiose or Institute for Works of Religion), which was Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Calvi
How can the Catholic Church claim to be Christian when it completely disregards Christ's teachings;
“Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.”
Henry S Pace
Aug 28th 2012, 14:53
It appears that whenever non-beliviers and unconvinced catholic have nothing to say or write about make
thier minds to attack the Catholic Church.
This is what Martin Scicluna he tries to alienate the people with somethin that come to his min . As if the
butler gave him some information that he gathered from the papal desk.
Edward Mallia
Aug 28th 2012, 14:15
Martin Scicluna takes on a new mantle every month: defence advisor, cultural guru in DLH, sustainable development expert, now a preacher of morals, a thorn in the local bishop's side, a veritable Savonarola to ungodly (mostly Gozitan) prelates and now Vaticanologist. Oddly enough, it is in this last role that his previous existence has fitted him best. In his own words: Intrigue is a staple diet in...any..bureaucratic institution where office politics play an inevitable role-- like the UK ministry of Defence, for example.
That apart, most of his writing may be described as a sort of Operation Pedestal, where Scicluna on a high pedesta talks down to the rest of us in impeccable English. The English lesson may be useful and justified, but the factual content generally tells us only what we (Rudoph Ragonesi excepted) have long known. As for the moral and intellectual content that is dated, and its very presentation makes it an unbearable condescension. We are not all, or even in large part "backwoodsmen" from the Gozo far west, to use the Scicluna "episcopal" wedge. And that quite apart from the fact that Archbishop Cremona's background -- if we were to follow Scicluna's second paragraph-- extending from Albi (the happy hunting ground of Dominic Guzman) to Guardia Piemontese in Calabria (a area of action of Cardinal Ghisleri, later the sainted Pope Pius V) is not of the best. Of course one cannot transpose such backgrounds to present day prelates; even less can one make statements like " Murder........... sexual depravity among supposedly morally infallible popes.." I fear that in this matter Scicluna's English has let him down. I have heard of no Pope -- starting from the very first one-- who claimed to be infallible in his personal morals.
Andy Farrugia
Aug 28th 2012, 17:34
Typical Martin "nobody" Scicluna drivel. Why do you bother?
Andy Farrugia
Aug 28th 2012, 17:35
Perhaps he has read Dan Brown, and been greatly inspired! Hilarious!
Lina Caruana
Aug 28th 2012, 12:05
AQt the Bibliotheca one can find okd readings of what used to happen in Malta of long ago. It is a pity that these are not studied objectively ,for the real history of Malta is in first hand documentation within our rich archives.
Gerry Cowie
Aug 28th 2012, 12:05
Perhaps Mr Scicluna would like to write a novel about his imaginings.
Or perhaps he has gained firm and concrete evidence of his suspicions. It would be interesting to know the sources he used.
Does he have anything to say in defence of the Church? After all he tells us that Malta is a Catholic country.
Which side of the fence does he occupy?
Charles Grixti
Aug 28th 2012, 14:17
You mean what side of the fence does the author occupy, like corruption and power or truth and honesty?
And if you think that this stuff is imaginings, then you have not read the book by the Jesuit priest Peter da Rosa, entitled d 'The Vicar of Christ'. I would say it is more of the same skulduggery.
rudolf ragonesi
Aug 28th 2012, 11:56
Great piece Martin.
Well, Bertone's jockeying for power by appointing his cronies would be nothing new. He would be following in the steps of his master, who was the main advisor to Pope Jean Paul II in the appointment of cardinals, and look whom they voted for. With Benedict's lobbying all those years so many reforms of Vatican Council II have remained a dead letter. What most Catholics the world over fail to realise is that the ultimate authority of the Church is supposed to lie with the Cardinals in Council, not the Papacy. They are the equivalent of the Parliament of the Church. But the Papacy, which is the equivalent of the Executive Branch of Government, wields all the power by never convening Parliament, as it were. Pope John XXIII changed all that after centuries by having the Council hold sessions for years to bring in reform. Pope Jean Paul I declared that he would continue the work of Pope John XXIII, while respecting the Piety of Pope Paul, which is why he coined his Papal Name after them. Alas it was not to be, for in 30 days he was dead, under very strange circumstances, with the Italian State denied the possibility to carry out an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Let us see what awaits the College of Cardinals at the next election of Pope. They should make it a strict condition that the Cardinal who is elected would upon his Coronation immediately declare the opening of a new Council, and allow the College of Cardinals the right to exercise its powers in terms of Canon Law, in the interest of the Church at large, and to continue the legacy of Pope John XXIII.
Victor Rodenas
Aug 28th 2012, 15:05
Well said,a new Pope must make Vatican Council III. As they say a new broom sweeps clean,but if the broom is old and new it will crack under the heap of rubbish.I also suggest that the new Pope will make his own tea before going to bed............
M Farrugia
Aug 28th 2012, 16:16
qabel bravu iehor dwar l-affarijiet tal-vatikan li jaqra kotba li meta konna zghar konna nghidulhom comic bhal Dandy u Topper u Beano, u jippruvaw jimpressonaw b'dak li jkun qraw.
rudolf ragonesi
Aug 28th 2012, 17:23
It never fails to amaze me how some people on this island are quick to stoop to personal comments and insults, as if trying to intimidate others who express their views. Maybe that is their purpose, rather than to make counter arguments to what has been stated.
charles caruana
Aug 29th 2012, 11:22
Another would be vaticonologist - sprouted from nowhere and nothing apparently. With much referenced and impeccable scholarly proof, you implicate Bertone, John Paul II and Benedict XVI in a gang of three hell bent on 'jockeying for power' to thwart the fruitful outcome of Vatican II, no less! It never ceases to amaze me how puny minds can pass such summary judgment on such an intellectual and spiritual giant as John Paul II, for instance.
'the ultimate authority of the Church is supposed to lie with the Cardinals in Council, not the Papacy. They are the equivalent of the Parliament of the Church. But the Papacy, which is the equivalent of the Executive Branch of Government, wields all the power by never convening Parliament, as it were.' As it were indeed. You have little or no idea where the ultimate authority of the Church lies. Anyone who makes such equivalences with such conviction badly needs a crash course in ecclesiology, to put it mildly. Such confusion between political democracy and Church governance is a sorry source of self-embarrassment, smacking of those who would rush in where angels fear to thread.
Your knowledge of the history of Vatican II and its aftermath leaves much to be desired Mr Ragonese. Was it not the 'piety of Pope Paul that inspired him to say that the smoke of Satan had invaded the Vatican holy of holies when he was tragically trying to mop up the mess unleashed by the 'progressive' hijackers who claimed they were following 'spirit' of Vatican II while ignoring its very orthodox letter? Dead letter indeed Mr Ragonese.
Like you I believe that Vatican II was a God sent, but unlike you I am not so sanguine about the distortions and abuses that self-styled ‘progressive’ prelates a la Hans Kung made out of it, with disastrous consequences for the Church. It has taken 40+ years of heroic efforts by Popes Paul, John Paul II and Benedict XVI to restore the message of that Council to anything resembling its true meaning and interpretation.
I invite you to rebut, with irrefutable evidence of course, the following facts which I posted to a priest who shares the same nostalgia for the immediate aftermath of Vatican II that you seem to indulge in: ‘you are a prime example of the ‘progressive’ priest who harks back with incorrigible nostalgia for the heady days of post Vatican II experimentation that plunged the Church into one of its epochal crisis from which it is still recovering. Your intense nostalgia for that time that has formed your mindset blinds you to such historical facts as the mass exodus of your clerical cohort from the priestly vocation and the dire consequence of priestly paedophilia, since it is undeniable that the absolute majority of cases uncovered recently date from those heady days of creedal and sexual ‘liberty’.’
Victor Rodenas
Aug 28th 2012, 11:27
And what about in Malta, those who only studied Laspina`s `,Outlines of Maltese History`, do not know anything what used to happen in Malta a few centuries ago by priests and Parish priests.Of course there were also very good Priests,.....God bless them.
M Farrugia
Aug 28th 2012, 16:21
Victor qed nistennew lilek tikteb l-istorja ta malta. Illum il-gurnta Laspina Outlines of maltese Hisotry huwa biss collectors item f'xi librerija al-Melitensia. Jekk trid taqra l-istorja ta veru trid toqghod attent min huwa l-awtur ghax ank din tghallem hafna. Ftit huma il-genwini tal-istorja ta pajjizni. Kulhadd jawweg il-fati daqs li kieku l-informazzjoni hija mghmula mit-tafal. Illum hawn diversi dokumentarji li qed jaghtu stampa falza totalment sabiex jinterpretaw l-istorja kif iridu huma. Infakkar li l-istorja ma tinkitibx billi wiehed jew wahda iqalbu fil-gurnali tal-partit politiku li dwar jkun qed jiktbu. dik tkun hrafa u mhux storja.
Victor Rodenas
Aug 28th 2012, 20:23
@ M.Farrugia. I quoted ,....AIM,Proc.68B,case 69,f.502. Evidence copied from the original of the bishop`s curia and placed in the inquisitorial proceedings.You are either trying to hide the facts or you do not know anything about them,..those who know and studied the facts know that I am right,...you are only an apologist for the Church.
Please choose the reason of your report below: