By Riazat Butt
Guardian
March 19, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/19/vatican-turbulent-past
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| Pope Pius XII in Vatican City on his 80th birthday in 1956 Photo by Corbis/Bettmann |
Scandals and crises are never far from the doors of the Vatican. They stretch as far back as the Renaissance, when the corrupt and licentious activities of popes contributed to the development of the Protestant Reformation. In his book Saints and Sinners, professor Eamon Duffy writes that this papacy invokes "images of a Hollywood spectacular, all decadence and drag … Contemporaries viewed Renaissance Rome as we view Nixon's Washington, a city of expense-account whores and political graft, where everything and everyone had a price, where nothing and nobody could be trusted. The popes themselves seemed to set the tone."
In more recent times the scandals have had a less glamorous veneer and occurred more regularly, giving an impression of constant turmoil.
In the 1960s questions emerged over Pius XII's failure to speak against the Holocaust, a source of controversy to this day during the second world war. Tension over this still seeped out during Benedict's inaugural visit to Jerusalem last year. He visited the Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, but not the museum, which bears an inscription by an image of Pius XII, asserting he failed to intervene in the fate of Jews during the war.
Paul VI had to contend with rumours regarding his sexual orientation. They became so widespread he issued a public denial of a past relationship with a priest who served as his secretary.
His successor, John Paul I, was not in office long enough to effect any major changes. He died 33 days into his papacy and his demise aroused conspiracy theories. Discrepancies over the account of his death, coupled with his reputation as a reformer and his interest in cleaning up the Vatican bank, led people to believe he was murdered by the Mafia, Masons, conservative clergy or all three.
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