Vatileaks: Pope Defends Right Hand Man Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone

The Telegraph
July 4, 2012

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/9376220/Vatileaks-Pope-defends-right-hand-man-Cardinal-Tarcisio-Bertone.html

Vatican State Secretary Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (R) looking at Pope Benedict

The Pope has come out in full support for his deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the chief targeted of the Vatileaks documents.

The pontiff's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested at the end of May and charged with stealing the pope's private papers. He remains locked up in a Vatican police "safe room".

The leaked documents allege graft over the awarding of infrastructure projects and a power struggle between rival groups of cardinals – the princes of the Church.

On Wednesday, the Vatican released a letter from Benedict XVI to Cardinal Bertone, his secretary of state or prime minister, in which he said: "I wish to express my profound appreciation for your discreet support and your enlightened counsel which I have found of particular help in recent months."

The pope, who sent the letter before heading to his summer retreat of Castel Gandolfo in the Alban hills outside Rome, added:

"Having noted with regret the unjust criticism raised against you, I want to renew the expression of my personal faith in you ... which remains constant."

The arrest of Gabriele was the climax of a terrible 10 days for Benedict in May during which the head of the Vatican bank was also sacked and a new book alleged cronyism and corruption in a Holy See riven by conflict between plotting cardinals.

Vatican chief spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said on Tuesday that the 50 days allowed for the initial detention of Gabriele would expire shortly and then authorities would have to decide whether to free the butler or send him for trial.

Fr Lombardi said a trial would not take place before October, but Gabriele could be released into house arrest before then.

Vatican police and a special commission of senior cardinals have been searching for other informers since Gabriele's arrest, with many Church insiders believing the butler could only have been a scapegoat in a wider and more sinister struggle.

But Gabriele so far remains the only person under investigation, Fr Lombardi said. The three-cardinal commission has interrogated 28 people.

Church experts say the leaks from the Vatican, involving embarrassing details about officials Bertone has appointed or removed or projects he has promoted, suggested a concerted effort to force him out of his job.

Cardinal Bertone is a theologian and canon law expert, in contrast to the normal choice of a seasoned diplomat for the job. He has been unpopular in some quarters for what is seen as an authoritarian style and his closeness to Italian politicians.

The Pope relies on his secretary of state to run the daily business of the Vatican and its embassies abroad while he devotes much of his time to doctrinal issues and writing a three-book study of Jesus Christ.