Foreign Press Has a Field Day with Suspicions and Scandals Surrounding the Conclave

Vatican Insider
February 22, 2013

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/world-news/detail/articolo/conclave-conclave-conclave-22560/

The international press is chokablok with speculations on a secret Vatileaks dossier that is so “explosive” it led to Benedict XVI’s resignation and on the shadow of the various scandals which is hanging over the upcoming Conclave. Just a few days after the Pope began his Lenten retreat the media is talking about “the loneliness of the short distance Pope”.

British newspaper The Guardian published an article titled “Papal resignation linked to inquiry into 'Vatican gay officials', says paper”, saying that although the Vatican’s spokesman has not confirmed the document, “a potentially explosive report has linked the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to the discovery of a network of gay prelates in the Vatican.” The dossier’s role in the Vatileaks scandal is also mentioned by the Irish Times, while The Daily Telegraph published an article with the title: “Vatican conclave tainted by scandal before it even begins”. The article underlines how the Vatileaks scandal has now affected Cardinal Timothy Dolan who was called for questioning over his handling of the sex abuse in Milwaukee. The newspaper then points out that Dolan joins the list of cardinals whose reputations have been clouded but will still be voting in the Conclave. The others are Mahony, Rigali, Danneels and Brady. “If they banned all the cardinals who have mismanaged sex abuse or have been involved in other unsavoury business, they’d end up holding the conclave in a broom cupboard,” a Vatican analyst told The Daily Telegraph. Meanwhile, Reuters published a special report on “The loneliness of the short distance pope”, quoting anonymous Vatican sources who paint a picture “is of a serious intellectual who let himself become isolated in the Vatican, ill at ease with the day-to-day running of the Church.”

In France, Le Monde focused on the rumours going round about an internal dossier on the Vatileaks case, in an article titled “Fresh rumours on the reasons for the Pope’s resignation”. Le Point published an article titled “The Vatican prepares for an unusual cohabitation”, discussing the fact that Benedict XVI “will remain inside the walls of the small State, not far from his successor and his previous duties” after he resigns. “Benedict XVI will let his successor deal with the Lefebvrian issue”, Liberation declares in the title of one of its articles. Germany’s Die Welt newspaper wrote about the tweeting ban during the Conclave, in an article titled “Which little bird will tell during the papal election?”, which claims “speculations are increasing regarding the possibility of someone violating the code of pontifical secrecy, revealing who the next Pope will be.” “Ratzinger has secularised the papacy” is the title Zeit gave to one of its articles which claims the Pope “restored the sacred structure of the Church in reason terms.”

Spanish newspaper El Pais gave the title “Pope betrays victims” to an article which reports on the accusations of Irish sex-abuse victims who say Ratzinger “promised more than what he actually delivered.” Meanwhile, El Mundo published a long report “the city of great saints and great sinners”, titled “This is how Rome bids the Pope farewell” In the U.S., the Washington Post published a comment titled “White smoke, black pope? The odds against an Obama moment’, underlining that although “the public seems enamoured of the idea of a non-European pope,” “there are several factors working against this”: above all, the fact that “the College of Cardinals is gerrymandered to favour an Old World candidate.” Finally, ABC, focused on the protests of many U.S. Catholics against Mahony taking part in the Conclave, with an article titled “Brewing Anger Over Los Angeles Cardinal Mahony Voting for New Pope”.