Rocking the Holy See

The Economist
March 8, 2012

http://www.economist.com/node/21549965

On March 7th, Anonymous, a hackers’ network, took credit for temporarily bringing down the Vatican’s website, calling the Catholic church "corrupt" and "retrograde". But the more dangerous attacks come from within the Holy See. Its police force, the Gendarmerie, is hunting for the source of an unprecedented string of leaks, most of them apparently intended to get Pope Benedict XVI to dismiss Tarcisio Bertone, who as secretary of state is the Vatican’s most senior official. The stakes are high. The pope will be 85 next month. And whoever is secretary of state when Benedict dies will play an important, perhaps decisive, role in choosing his successor.

Cardinal Bertone, who rose in the Vatican’s hierarchy as a close ally of Benedict’s, has many enemies within the high walls of the world’s tiniest independent state. His appointment in 2006 to head a department staffed by trained diplomats upset many who had come to expect they would be led by one of their own. But nobody, it is said, resented his promotion more than the man he replaced, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, some of whose former aides hold influential posts in the hierarchy.

Jovial but brash, Cardinal Bertone has clashed behind the scenes with both the head of the Catholic church in Italy and the boss of the Vatican bank, the Institute for Works of Religion. This second wrangle is particularly unfortunate. The Holy See is waiting to hear in June whether it qualifies for the “white list” of states that meet the European Union’s standards of financial transparency. The Vatican bank’s chief, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, is credited with a hard line on compliance. Reports of differences with Cardinal Bertone fuel suspicions (unfair or not) that the secretary of state favours laxity.

Cardinal Bertone is blamed by adversaries for failing to avert the gaffes that have marred Benedict’s papacy. He is also criticised for being ill-equipped for the job (he speaks neither English nor French), for a brash—and seemingly improvised—managerial style, and for exceeding his powers.

That was the issue behind the latest leak. Il Fatto Quotidiano, a newspaper, printed documents showing that the pope had taken sides against Cardinal Bertone over his attempt to grab control of a powerful institute in Milan. The most sensational revelation came when the same paper published an internal memo quoting one cardinal as saying that Benedict would be dead by year’s end. Less dramatic, but more damaging for Cardinal Bertone, was yet another leak showing that he transferred to Washington a prelate who claimed to have uncovered evidence of corruption and cronyism in the awarding of Vatican contracts.

Even so, the secretary of state’s removal is no foregone conclusion. Were he to get rid of him, the pope would be implicitly admitting he blundered not just in appointing Cardinal Bertone, but also in resisting calls from fellow cardinals three years ago for his dismissal.