VATICAN CITY/UNITED STATES
What They Knew
We have been getting numerous vistors from all over the world recently. We like that. But nothing melts our hearts more than to see the frequent visitation from the Vatican. Yes, that’s right IP address 212.77.12.74 or Internet Office of the Holy See, thanks for being a frequent reader here at What They Knew. We have many more surprises in store for you, starting with the documents below.
But first off, Alexander Stille wrote an excellent article this week in The Atlantic that asks the question of whether the Vatican can survive in the 21st century age of radical digital transparency. We here at WTK are still waiting to see if the Jesuits would like to enter the 20th century at this point. Some salient quotes:
Anonymous letters, damaging dossiers, and poison penmanship are old staples of Vatican intrigue. The big difference is that all this material was once kept rigorously private — its power derived from its mere existence and the potential threat of being made public.
The lesson of both the pedophilia scandal and Vati-leaks is that the Church can no longer control information about itself. In the past, when police arrested priests who were acting out, they generally took the matter to the local bishop, and newspapers often chose, out of deference, not to write about it. Changes in public opinion — anger and outrage over wrongdoing in the Church — and in information technology make it impossible to keep the lid on scandal…
The Pope and the Pedophile Jesuit from Chicago
But, what Fr. Lomnardi SJ needs to answer is why His Holiness, Pope Benedict, and Donald McGuire SJ wrote to each other so much? Admittedly, they knew each other for years, with such friends in common as Joseph Fessio SJ. But the McGuire problems became public in 2003. So really why did Pope Benedict still write him a Christmas letter in 2006 while McGuire was publicly on trial, and convicted, for molesting children? In fact Donald McGuire was in prison for child sexual abuse when this letter was sent to him. We have many more letters between the two, but here is 3 pages to start.
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