All Hell breaks loose in the Holy See

John L. Allen, Jr.
National Catholic Reporter
May 25, 2012

To say that the Vatican seems in turmoil would be putting things mildly, with two stunners in the arc of twenty-four hours: Yesterday’s announcement that the president of the Vatican Bank has been unceremoniously fired, and today’s revelation that a longtime personal servant of Benedict XVI has been identified as the alleged “deep throat” behind the torrid Vatican leaks scandal.

Perhaps it would be more accurate, albeit a bit crude, to say that all Hell is breaking loose in the Holy See.

Earlier today the Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, announced that the Vatican’s security forces had identified an individual as a source for the recent avalanche of leaks, but didn’t provide the name. Various Italian news outlets, however, are reporting that the suspect is Paolo Gabriele, a layman who has worked for many years in the papal apartments as a butler and waiter for the pope.

According to reports, Gabriele is now being interrogated by the promoter of justice for the Vatican City-State, Nicola Picardi.

The accusation against Gabriele comes on the heels of release of a sensational new book by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, titled His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI, collecting recently leaked documents and adding some new ones.

Materials in the book include confidential information about Vatican finances, reports from the Vatican security services (including a write-up of an incident in which a car belonging to the security service was riddled with bullets outside a Roman restaurant), memoranda documenting internal power struggles, correspondence from prominent Italian personalities requesting personal favors, even the notes of a private meeting between the pope and the Italian president.

Already, some commentators are openly wondering if Gabriele is being served up as a “scapegoat” to disguise the complicity of more senior figures. Veteran Italian writer Andrea Tornielli wrote today that the leaks scandal seems to have been orchestrated by “a refined mind, who knows church politics,” casting doubt on whether a layman working as a papal butler truly fits that profile.

Meanwhile, the move against the president of the Institute for the Works of Religion, the so-called “Vatican Bank,” has raised new questions about the direction of Vatican efforts at financial reform and transparency.

When prominent Italian economist and banker Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was named the institute’s president in 2009, he was touted as the new captain of Benedict XVI’s financial glasnost. Among other things, Gotti Tedeschi had been a contributor to the pope’s 2009 encyclical on the economy, Caritas in Veritate, and an internationally popular speaker on ethics in the economy.

Yesterday, however, the Vatican announced that Gotti Tedeschi had been given a vote of no-confidence by the institute’s supervisory council. By the usual standards of Vatican communiqués, the statement was remarkable for its lack of face-saving finesse.

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