What the #!%*? Did the Pope's Butler Do It?
National Post
In this occasional feature, the National Post tells you everything you need to know about a complicated issue. Today: Corruption, cronyism, mismanagement and high-level power plays are exposed at the Vatican. A banker has been ousted and the Pope's butler arrested. Q: How did this all start? A: The Vatileaks scandal broke in January when Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi broadcast letters from the former No. 2 Vatican administrator to the Pope in which he begged not to be transferred for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions of euros in higher contract prices. But the whistleblower, Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano, was moved and is now the Vatican's ambassador in Washington. Q: But it didn't end there? A: No. At the weekend, Mr. Nuzzi published a book, Your Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI, in which he released dozens of private letters to Pope Benedict, and other confidential Vatican correspondence and reports, including encrypted cables from Vatican embassies around the world. Q: And what do they show? A: A host of things. Some documents showed Vatican officials discussing one of the great unsolved mysteries in Italy, the 1983 disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee. That led to the reopening of a criminal investigation. The book also provides a window into the nexus between Italian banking, media power and the Vatican. In a letter last Christmas, Bruno Vespa, Italy's most well-known television host, enclosed a cheque for $12,500 to the Pope's private secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, describing it as "a small sum at the disposal of the pope's charity," and asking for a private audience. The director of Italy's Intesa San Paolo bank, Giovanni Bazoli, sent a $32,000 cheque, "with my most deferential salutations." Other letters are written in obsequious baroque language, in which everyone — from Jesuits to government officials and Mercedes-Benz directors — seeks favours, recommendations and, most of all, the Pope's ear. Q: What about the ouster of the Vatican's banker? A: The sacking last week of Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, president of the Vatican Bank, may be part of a wider conflict over how to bring the secretive institution in line with international anti-money-laundering standards. He was removed over accusations of negligence and failing to fulfill basic duties. However, his defenders say he was trying to improve the transparency of the Vatican's finances, and in the process upset powerful people. Q: Anything else? A: Some commentators have said the Machiavellian machinations that have come to light are part of a campaign of reciprocal mud-slinging by allies and enemies of the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Q: Who is Bertone? A: Cardinal Bertone has emerged as a central contentious figure in the VatiLeaks drama. Many critics, including some inside the Vatican, see him as a poor administrator who as the Vatican's CEO has struggled to manage the scandal-ridden papacy of a German intellectual with little interest in day-to-day affairs of state. Vatican observers say many of the leaked documents are aimed at undermining the cardinal's influence. Q: And the Pope's butler did it? A: A lot of people think not, or at least, not alone. Paolo Gabriele was charged at the weekend with illegal possession of secret documents. But some think he is a scapegoat. "It doesn't seem likely that he is the only one responsible for Vatileaks because many of the documents that came out didn't ever pass through the Pope's apartment where he works," said Paolo Rodari, a Vatican expert for the Italian daily Il Foglio. The 46-year-old father of three — who was always considered extremely loyal to Pope Benedict and his predecessor, John Paul II, for whom he briefly worked — could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted. Meanwhile, he was reportedly "very serene and calm" Monday. Q: So, who else could be behind the leaks? A: Several Italian newspapers carried an interview with an anonymous whistle-blower who explained why the documents were being leaked. "There's a group of us: the real brains behind it are cardinals, then there are monsignors, secretaries, small fry," the informer said. "The valet is just a delivery boy that somebody wants to set up. Vatican intelligence has security systems more advanced than anything the CIA has but cardinals are still in the habit of writing their messages by hand and dictating them. It's open warfare, with everyone against everyone else. Those doing it are acting to protect the Pope. There are those opposed to the Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone. And those who think that Benedict XVI is too weak to lead the Church. And those who think that this is the time to step forward. So it's become everyone against everyone." Q: What's next? A: Authorities say Mr. Gabriele has pledged to co-operate with Vatican magistrates, raising the spectre high-ranking prelates may soon be named in the investigation. Italian media reported Monday a cardinal is suspected of playing a major role in the "Vatileaks" scandal. However, the Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, denied the reports.
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