Mass Media Mayhem As Berlusconi Lashes Foe, by Paola Totaro, Brisbane Times (Australia), September 5, 2009

Mass Media Mayhem As Berlusconi Lashes Foe

By Paola Totaro
Brisbane Times (Australia)
September 5, 2009

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/mass-media-mayhem-as-berlusconi-lashes-foe-20090904-fbh8.html

A HISTORIC - and potentially disastrous - schism has opened between church and state in Italy after the embattled Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, used a newspaper owned by his brother Paolo to stage a virulent attack on the editor of the nation's main Catholic newspaper.

In a ferocious, front-page campaign, the Berlusconi newspaper branded the Catholic editor, Dino Boffo, a homosexual and alleged he was the target of a harassment suit from the wife of a man he was allegedly in a relationship with. All of this in apparent retaliation for sustained criticism of the Prime Minister's morality and personal life.

Clash of church and state...the editor of Avvenire, Dino Boffo, with Benedict Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.
Photo by Reuters

Boffo, the prominent boss of the powerful Avvenire, newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference, was immediately supported by a public statement from the Vatican. But on Thursday, after issuing a detailed, 10-point rebuttal and explanation of the origin of the allegations, Boffo chose to resign, describing the campaign against him as "media butchery", stating that his reputation had been "violated" and he could no longer allow his family to remain at the "centre of a storm of gigantic proportions".

In his letter of resignation, Boffo described the sexual scandal used against him as a "diabolically engineered, colossal, fictional set-up". He said he had chosen freely to step aside because "the church has better things to do than strenuously defend one person, even if unfairly targeted".

The daily attacks against Avvenire began last week with a front-page editorial written by Vittorio Feltri, editor of the Berlusconi paper, il Giornale. "The moment has come to unmask the moralists," he thundered. "Everyone has their sexual weaknesses."

Just days before, a furious Mr Berlusconi had flagged plans to sue several European newspapers, including the Italian daily la Repubblica, which he slapped with a €1 million ($1.7 million) libel suit. The paper has published 10 questions daily, repeatedly asking Mr Berlusconi to explain his relationships with several young women, including an aspiring teen model from Naples, Noemi Letizia.

The editor of la Repubblica wrote his own front-page response to the suit, telling readers that Silvio Berlusconi's inability to reply to the paper's questions "without lying" had led him to "take us to court, burying in the sand at least in Italy his public shame over his private behaviour". The article quoted the interest of the rest of the world's press in what it described as "an international scandal", warning that this was the first time an Italian politician had chosen a lawsuit to stymie questions.

The move to muzzle the press sparked immediate condemnation from European and British media and a sharp and unprecedented response from the Vatican. A week ago, just hours before he was due to meet Mr Berlusconi, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, cancelled the annual dinner shared with the Prime Minister after the Perdonanza Mass, a centuries-old service to symbolise the forgiveness of sin.

Ever defiant, the Prime Minister cancelled his attendance at the Mass in the earthquake-torn town of L'Aquila. The rift between Mr Berlusconi's administration and the Vatican is now being read as the most serious battle between church and state since World War II.

The row is extremely risky for Mr Berlusconi. All Italian heads of state need the backing of the Catholic church and even Benito Mussolini understood the need not to antagonise the Vatican, establishing the so-called Lateran pacts that restored it as a sovereign state in the wake of the huge loss of land holdings after the unification of Italy in the 19th century. Significantly, in the 1980s, the Socialist prime minister, Bettino Craxi, updated them.

As veteran observers said this week, the Vatican does not forget insult easily. The freeze in relations is unlikely to thaw soon.

Already, there are fears that the church will demand its own pound of flesh for forgiveness and the most likely target is the controversial proposed reform of euthanasia law.