The Pope’s right hand man has blamed the ‘devil and the media’ for the latest Vatican documents scandal.
Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has made the accusations in response to a scandal over leaked Vatican documents in the Italian media.
Cardinal Bertone told an Italian Catholic weekly that journalists reporting on the leaks scandal are ‘pretending to be Dan Brown, inventing stories and replaying legends’.
Brown is the best selling author of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and ‘Angels and Demons’.
The Associated Press reports that Vatican has been on the defensive ever since sensitive documents alleging corruption and exposing power struggles began appearing in the Italian media in January.
A recently published book contained dozens of documents from Pope Benedict XVI’s own desk and is seen as part of a plot to undermine Bertone’s authority.
Pope Benedict XVI has also complained about media reports that: “Went well beyond the facts, offering an image of the Holy See that doesn’t correspond to reality.”
Now Cardinal Bertone’s interview with Famiglia Cristiana has taken the complaints to a new level.
He blasted the ‘vehemence’ of some Italian newspapers in seeking to create divisions between the pope and his collaborators where there weren’t any.
“The truth is that there’s a will to create division that comes from the devil,” said Cardinal Bertone.
“The Holy See isn’t perfect and none of us wants to hide the church’s shadows and defects.
“But the Italian media in particular has gone too far, violating the privacy rights of both the pope and the people who correspond with him by publishing leaked documents.”
He also said that, contrary to media reports depicting factions opposed to him within the Vatican bureaucracy, he enjoys ‘an extraordinary climate of communion’ with his colleagues. Bertone added: “Personally, I don’t sense any sign of cardinals or church personalities being involved in any conquest of some phantom power.”
The only person arrested so far during investigations into the leaks is the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, a 46-year-old father of three who was arrested May 23 and accused of aggravated theft after reams of papal documents were found in his Vatican City apartment.
16 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Collette2 | Jun 21, 2012, 05:31 AM EDT
What a lot of ........!
ramanan50 | Jun 20, 2012, 01:04 PM EDT
Excellent reasoning!
eiriamach | Jun 20, 2012, 08:44 AM EDT
What devil is Bertone talking about? And why is Benedict insisting pedophilia is "mystery"? Do they think we need to understand the ORIGIN of evil before we can RECOGNIZE evil in human misdeeds? Their mystification of the public about the sins of priests inspires weird conspiracy-theory mindsets like DeanJackson's and Phan's, in anyone who won't see through the Vatican rhetoric. Like Pope Benedict and this "Aide," they suffer from the delusion that the Church can return to some Garden of Eden, that with the right public ritual of words and gestures, they can exorcise the demons of the media and resume their innocence and authority. The moral confusion that they suffer from now may look like the work of the devil, but it is the outcome of very human self-blinding to their own moral failures!
GoogieLaRue | Jun 19, 2012, 11:50 PM EDT
Three Observations: 1 Bertone is nuts. 2 Phlutie Phan is nuts. 3 Dean Jackson is nuts.
ProudCanadian | Jun 19, 2012, 11:47 PM EDT
That bad old Devil, he made them do it. When will the Catholic church ever own up to there travesties, probably never because it is never there fault. So sad.
pilib04 | Jun 19, 2012, 09:54 PM EDT
Presumably the devil made Bernard Law cover up the child-rapist priests.
rugbyplayer | Jun 19, 2012, 01:34 PM EDT
Ha, ha, ha!
PhlutiePhan | Jun 19, 2012, 11:19 AM EDT
Cardinal Bertone wrote a book disparaging the "third secret of Fatima". In the U.S., we have a new apostolic delegate, Maria Carlo Vigano. He was run out of Rome by Bertone. He either wants to be the next pope or is jockeying to be the power broker in his selection.
Springfield9 | Jun 19, 2012, 11:05 AM EDT
OK - I'm setting my watch back 600 years. Yes! It's Lucifer, at work!
sailmaker | Jun 19, 2012, 10:45 AM EDT
Lessee . . . "The devil made me do it!" Wasn't that a Flip Wilson comedy line? To hear this guy spout it is just as funny. Well, not quite.
jamieLM | Jun 19, 2012, 10:37 AM EDT
..."The Holy See isn't perfect and none of us wants to hide the church's shadows and defects", oh, really??? Maybe the butler's defense will be "the devil made me do it." Good to know from Bertone that the "boys club" at the Vatican remain such good buddies, everyone on the same page.
CelticQueenUSA | Jun 19, 2012, 10:10 AM EDT
How stupid do they think we are!! /blame the devil for something that human priests did??? This is downright ridiculous.
CitizenWhy | Jun 19, 2012, 10:08 AM EDT
Could be the devil. Maybe the devil has taken over the Vatican, or did that happen a long time ago. Fortunately he ignores the words of Christ to the effect that evil comes from within us, from our own hearts. But he's a priest, he knows better than Christ.
Paddishman | Jun 19, 2012, 10:01 AM EDT
Dutty ole men in purple & red dresses for easy access...Jaysus! sure don't I know it..Priests..me hole!!!
seamus60 | Jun 19, 2012, 09:52 AM EDT
They`ll be telling us next , it was the devil who sent all those young victims to the bottom of those peadophile priests beds. Who did he send to carry out all the cover-ups ?
esatdigiwank | Jun 19, 2012, 08:34 AM EDT
I'd sooner believe the writings of Dan Brown than the garbage that is pedalled by the Vatican charlatans. Wonder does Bertone believe in the Divil. Probably believes that Barney the Dinosaur is a registered voter with a zip code also. RC church does not have much time left, one hopes.