Web Globe cut the printed sermon short!
"Rumors of scandal point to rocky path for papal conclave; Leaks meant to hurt candidates, observers say" by Rachel Donadio | New York Times, February 24, 2013
VATICAN CITY — In recent days, often speculative reports — some even alleging gay sex scandals in the Vatican, others focusing on particular cardinals stung by the child sex abuse crisis — have dominated headlines in Italian news media, suggesting fierce internal struggles as prelates scramble to consolidate power and attack enemies in the dying days of a troubled papacy.
The reports, which the Vatican has vehemently denied, touch on some of the most vexing issues of Benedict’s papacy, including the child sex abuse crisis and international criticism of the Vatican Bank’s opaque record-keeping. The recent explosion of bad press — which some Vatican watchers say is fed by carefully orchestrated leaks meant to weaken some papal contenders — also speak to Benedict’s own difficulties governing....
The drumbeat of scandal has grown so loud that on Saturday the Vatican secretariat of state issued a rare pointed rebuke, calling it ‘‘deplorable’’ that ahead of the conclave there was ‘‘a widespread distribution of often unverified, unverifiable, or completely false news stories, that cause serious damage to persons and institutions.’’
We get a lot of them here, too.
The Vatican compared the news reports to attempts in the past by foreign states to exert pressure on the papal election....
Benedict had hoped to address at least one scandal with the Feb. 15 appointment of a new head of the Vatican Bank. It is less clear why he reassigned a powerful Vatican diplomatic official to a posting outside Rome, though experts say it diminishes the official’s role in helping steer Vatican policy.
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The rest:
On Feb. 11, Benedict made history by announcing that he would step down by month’s end. He said he was worn down by age and was resigning “in full liberty and for the good of the church.” But the volley of news reports that appeared since then appeared to underscore the backbiting in the Vatican that Benedict was unable to control, and provided a hint of why he might have decided that someone younger and stronger should lead the church.
At the conclusion of the Vatican’s Lenten spiritual retreat, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, a papal contender, spoke darkly of the “divisions, dissent, careerism, jealousies” that he said plagued the Vatican hierarchy.
The recent spate of news reports were linked to an earlier scandal in which the pope’s butler stole confidential documents, an episode considered one of the gravest security breaches in the modern history of the church.
That's receded under the robes a bit.
Last week, articles in the center-left daily newspaper La Repubblica and the center-right weekly Panorama, which largely did not reveal their sources, reported that three cardinals whom Benedict had asked to investigate the documents scandal had found evidence of Vatican officials who had been put in compromising positions.
The publications reported that, after interviewing dozens of people inside and outside the Vatican, the cardinals produced a hefty dossier. “The report is explicit. Some high prelates are subject to ‘external influence’ — we would call it blackmail — by nonchurch men to whom they are bound by ‘worldly’ ties,” La Repubblica wrote.
I read that and the impression I get is that the Catholic Church -- like western governments -- is under the control of that very special group of people. The worldy ties obviously refer to the banking malfeasance and fraud.
Vatican experts speculated that prelates and their associates eager to undermine opponents during the conclave were behind the latest leaks to the news media.
“The conclave is a mechanism that serves to create a dynasty in a monarchy without children, so it’s a complicated operation,” said Alberto Melloni, the director of the John XXIII Center in Bologna and the author of a book on conclaves.
Any effort to tarnish rivals is “part of the great game of the conclave, whose tools include political attacks and efforts to condition consensus,” Mr. Melloni added.
Separately, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the reports were trying to “discredit the church and its government” ahead of the conclave.
The scandals have flourished in the fertile ground of power vacuums, not only at the Vatican but also in Italy, which will hold national elections on Sunday and Monday. The end of Benedict’s papacy also dovetails with what appear to be the waning days of an era dominated by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose media culture was marked by mudslinging.
Actually, he might win the election, unless I'm getting a signal that the fix is in.
Some Vatican experts said that recent news reports, which depict the Vatican as an unruly den of scheming Italian prelates, might convince the cardinals to choose a non-Italian pope, or someone farther removed from the Vatican hierarchy.
At the same time, other Italian news reports have seized on a petition by critics who say that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles should not be allowed to attend the conclave, after the release of church files that show how he protected priests accused of sexually abusing minors.
Some Vatican experts read the media reports about Cardinal Mahony as an attempt to undermine any potential American papal candidates.
While the battle lines inside the Vatican hierarchy and the College of Cardinals are difficult to discern, in Mr. Melloni’s view the news reports calling attention to Vatican scandals could shore up the more conservative cardinals who would lean toward electing “a sheriff, not a pope,” a figure who would focus on discipline more than the pastoral aspects of the role.
Analysts said Benedict’s personnel decisions, meanwhile, appeared to reflect his own attempts to shift the power in the Vatican. The recent appointment of Ernst von Freyberg, a German industrialist and aristocrat, as the new director of the Vatican Bank, was aimed, according to the Vatican, at bringing the institution more in line with international banking standards.
And on Friday, the pope named Ettore Balestrero, 46, the Vatican’s undersecretary of state, as papal nuncio in Colombia, also making him a bishop. Technically a promotion, the move was also seen by many Vatican watchers as a way to move the prelate, who played a key role in overseeing the Vatican Bank, away from the power center in Rome.
Oh, I'll bet their is a rat's nest of criminality in there!
On Monday, just days before his papacy ends, Benedict is expected to issue a law that would change the rules for electing a new pope, making it possible for the cardinals to start the conclave sooner than the traditional waiting period after the papacy is vacant.
Some non-Italian cardinals worry that might favor those who are based at the Vatican and already know each other rather than cardinals coming from around the world, Vatican experts said.
The same day, the pope is also expected to meet with the three cardinals who compiled the dossier on the stolen document scandal.
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I don't even care whom they decided upon, for I have already ex-communicated myself.
And that hardly mentioned gay sex scandal is about to come to an ecclesiastical explosion of an orgasm:
"Vatican to open an inquiry of British cardinal; Priests accuse him of improper behavior" by Anthony Faiola | Washington Post, February 25, 2013
LONDON — On the same day as his last public blessing Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI confronted the threat of a fresh scandal within the church hierarchy, with Vatican officials informing him of new allegations that Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric had engaged in inappropriate behavior with priests.
In Britain, the accusations against Cardinal Keith O’Brien, head of the church in Scotland and one of this nation’s most strident opponents of gay rights, were already escalating into a national furor.
The controversy revolved around a report first published Saturday night on the website of Britain’s Observer newspaper, saying that four men — three current priests and one former priest — had denounced O’Brien for ‘‘inappropriate’’ and ‘‘intimate’’ behavior.
Through a spokesman, O’Brien denied the charges and said he was seeking legal counsel.
A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Sunday that the Vatican would investigate the complaints, which had been channeled through the office of the papal nuncio — the Vatican’s ambassador — in London.
‘‘The pope has been informed, and the question is in his hands,’’ Lombardi said.
If proven true, the allegations could rock the church at a highly sensitive time, highlighting a Vatican in crisis as its cardinals begin to gather in Rome to pick the pope’s successor after his surprise resignation earlier this month.
The exact nature and timing of the alleged contact, which the Observer said was reported to the Vatican’s emissary in London a week before Benedict’s Feb. 11 resignation, were not spelled out.
And now you know the real reason he is resigning. Getting out of Dodge before the proverbial s*** hits the fan. Resignation isn't such a shocking surprise now, is it?
But one of the accusers said O’Brien had started a ‘‘relationship’’ with him in the 1980s that resulted in the need for long-term counseling. Another of the men said O’Brien had initiated ‘‘inappropriate contact’’ during nightly prayers, according to the paper.
Friends, let us prey.
Poised to join the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope, O’Brien missed Sunday Mass in his dioceses of St. Andrews and Edinburgh.
His auxiliary, Bishop Stephen Robson, read a statement at the cathedral in Edinburgh, saying: ‘‘A number of allegations of inappropriate behavior have been made against the cardinal. The cardinal has sought legal advice and it would be inappropriate to comment at this time. There will be further statements in due course.’’ He added, according to the BBC, ‘‘It is to the Lord that we turn to now in times of need.’’
Those kinds of prayers usually don't work.
The Vatican declined to confirm details of the allegations against the 74-year-old O’Brien, who was due to retire next month, saying only that Benedict had been informed.
The pope, who will step down Thursday evening, gave his final Sunday blessing from his studio window to the cheers of tens of thousands of people packing St. Peter’s Square, but sought to reassure the faithful that he wasn’t abandoning the church by retiring to spend his final years in prayer.
While the 85-year-old pontiff has lately looked tired and frail, the crowd filling the cobblestone square seemed to energize him, and he spoke in a strong voice, repeatedly thanking the faithful for their closeness and affection.
He had a bit of energy? Must be excited he's leaving!
Benedict told the crowd that God is calling him to dedicate himself ‘‘even more to prayer and meditation,’’ which he will do in a monastery being renovated for him in Vatican City.
‘‘But this doesn’t mean abandoning the church,’’ the pope said. “I can continue to serve it with the same dedication and the same love which I have tried to do so until now, but in a way more suitable to my age and to my strength.’’
The allegations against O’Brien surfaced a week after the church became the focus of fresh leaks in the Italian press, which cited an internal Vatican report as detailing the existence of a gay lobby inside the institution that was subject to outside blackmail.
Responding to the reports, the Vatican’s Secretariat of State chided the media for ‘‘widespread distribution of often unverified, unverifiable, or completely false news stories that cause serious damage to persons and institutions.’’
In Britain, however, the Observer report was considered additionally explosive because of O’Brien’s public stance on homosexuality. Last year, O’Brien decried the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage here as a ‘‘grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right.’’
He has described homosexuality as immoral and was singled out by the gay advocacy group Stonewall for a 2012 ‘‘bigot of the year’’ award.
Those guys are always the worst hypocrites.
Allies of O’Brien, however, were quick to defend him, saying judgment should be reserved until a full airing of the facts. ‘‘These allegations have not been proved in any way,’’ Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, former archbishop of Westminster, said. ‘‘So I think he will have to decide whether he goes or not’’ to the conclave. ‘‘We must listen first of all to what he has to say.’’
The Observer’s report did not specify the extent to which the alleged encounters were consensual or ultimately resulted in sexual acts. None of the four men were named, and they could not be independently reached.
The paper said the men recently reported their claims to the Vatican emissary in London with the aid of an intermediary from their diocese in the week before the pope’s resignation.
The move appeared pegged to O’Brien’s planned retirement next month. The men were demanding O’Brien’s immediate resignation and apparently went public in an effort to block the cardinal from taking part of the papal conclave.
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And about that other controversial Cardinal:
"Pressure mounts to keep Los Angeles cardinal from conclave" by Nicole Winfield | Associated Press, February 21, 2013
VATICAN CITY — Conclaves always bring out the worst in cardinals’ dirty laundry, with past sins and transgressions aired anew in the slow news days preceding the vote. This time is no different — except that the disclosures of Mahony’s sins are so fresh and come on the tails of a recent round of sex abuse scandals in the United States and Europe....
Andrea LeΓ³n-Grossman, a Los Angeles member of Catholics United....
??
Related: Boston Globe School Daze: Jews Tutor Catholics
Is that where they learned the sick sex s***?
Last month, a court in Los Angeles ordered the release of thousands of pages of confidential personnel files of more than 120 priests accused of sex abuse. The files show that Mahony and other top archdiocese officials maneuvered behind the scenes to shield accused priests and protect the church from a growing scandal while keeping parishioners in the dark.
Related: Catholic Church Crimes in California
Mahony was stripped of his public and administrative duties last month by his successor at the largest Catholic diocese in the United States. But the dressing-down by Archbishop Jose Gomez only affected Mahony’s work in the archdiocese, not his role as a cardinal. Gomez has since urged prayers for Mahony as he enters the conclave.
Mahony has responded to the outcry on his blog, writing about the many ‘‘humiliations’’ Jesus endured....
Oh, he's being so persecuted!
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Almost forgotten amongst the seedy and salacious scandals:
"Vatican's new bank chief has military ship links" February 15, 2013, Associated Press
VATICAN CITY—The Vatican was drawn into a new controversy Friday after acknowledging that its bank's new president is also chairman of a shipbuilder making warships—a significant conflict for an institution that has long shunned ties to military manufacturing.
The Vatican announced to great fanfare that Pope Benedict XVI had signed off on one of the last major appointments of his papacy, approving Ernst von Freyberg as president of the Vatican's bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works.
The Vatican spokesman was caught off-guard, though, when a journalist noted that the German shipbuilder von Freyberg chairs, Blohm + Voss, is known for its military ship construction.
The Rev. Federico Lombardi demurred and defended the selection. He later issued a statement saying von Freyberg chairs a civilian branch of Blohm + Voss, which repairs and transforms cruise ships and builds yachts—but that the company is currently part of a consortium that is building four frigates for the German navy.
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Also see:
Benedict Bails Out
Now we know why.
Applause, tears as pope offers last public Mass
Pope blesses huge crowd in St. Peter’s Square
Pope says farewell to clergy in Rome, says he will keep low profile
He hopes and prays.
O’Malley mentioned as contender for pope
He's a long shot, but that doesn't stop the Globe from plugging for him.
Why Cardinal O’Malley should be pope
Cardinal O’Malley ready for conclave to choose the next pope
Odds favor cardinal in Ghana as the next pope
A black Pope? Those old white guys going to elect a black Pope?
You know, as a Catholic I'm thinking that may not be a bad idea. They seem to have kept their hands off the altar boys.
The auditions began in earnest on Sunday.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
British cardinal resigns, will not vote on new pope
Then they drew and quartered him and threw the body parts into the crowd at Vatican Square.
Selection process can start early for new pope
I'm rooting for the black guy. Maybe he can clean up the bank and reenergize liberation theology. That ought to throw the fear of God into 'em.
