Vatileaks: Hunt Is on to Find Vatican Moles

Times of India
June 3, 2012

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Vatileaks-Hunt-is-on-to-find-Vatican-moles/articleshow/13757637.cms

Already this year we've read about documents warning of a "death threat" against the Pope, widespread nepotism and corruption, exiled whistle-blowers , gay smear campaigns and embarrassing revelations about the Vatican's tax affairs. Most of the damaging of the " Vatileaks" were revealed by the reporter Gianluigi Nuzzi in a series of TV programmes and now his new book Sua Santita (Your Holiness).

As ever, lumbering several steps behind , the powers that be at the Holy See last month set out to catch the mole or moles behind the leaks — which they refer to as "criminal acts". The Pope's butler has already been nabbed in possession of some of the confidential papers. But few people think he acted alone.

This week, we learnt that an unnamed Italian cardinal is now a suspect. But even if all the leakers are caught, few observers think that there's an end in sight for the PR disasters that have blighted the reign of 85-year-old Pope Benedict XVI.

For Valerio Gigante, a vaticanologist at the Adista religious news website, the church is suffering a moral crisis. "The contradiction at the heart of the church grows greater all the time. It exists for moral reasons but also generates huge amounts of money and is ever more occupied with political and economic power," he said.

Another Vatican watcher, Robert Mickens of The Tablet, has a simpler take on the Holy See's woes. "It's arrogance . The people in charge still think the Vatican is above ordinary laws."

He says last week's sacking of the Vatican bank chief Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was another example of this. Mr Gotti Tedeschi is believed by many to have fallen foul of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's number two and the Pope's chief of staff, by insisting on more stringent anti-corruption rules.

Observers also point to the Vatican's decision in April to censure nuns in the US for daring to "disagree with or challenge positions taken by the bishops" on key social issues. "All these things are symptoms of a bigger problem. The structure of the Vatican — an absolute monarchy — is no longer suitable for the modern world," said Mr Mickens.