A scandal to the faithful

From the editor's desk
The Tablet (UK)
June 2, 2012

Those who like their rosy view of the Vatican unsullied by sordid reality need to heed Ronald Knox’s famous advice – “a bad sailor keeps clear of the engine room”. Murmurings and mutterings over the last few years that the Catholic Church’s engine room was misfiring have suddenly been turned into hard fact, with the leaking of ­documents that are gravely embarrassing to the papacy of Benedict XVI, the arrest of his butler on suspicion of being the source of those leaks, the forced resignation of the head of the Vatican bank, serious allegations of corruption, and an air of faction-fighting in an apparent attempt to force out the Vatican’s second most powerful figure, the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Cardinal Bertone was appointed by the Pope shortly after the start of the pontificate. As Archbishop Bertone, he had previously worked for Cardinal Ratzinger at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and it was apparent that the incoming Pope wanted his own man at his right hand.

This seemed to indicate a lack of confidence in the more obvious options, either to continue with Cardinal Angelo Sodano or appoint someone of the same background. The leaked docu­ments do indeed suggest that Cardinal Bertone has failed to impress, but to them must be applied the classic test – cui bono? In whose interests is it to suggest this? Italian journalists have been assembling suspects, insinuating that the accused butler was a mere pawn in the hands of much more important people. Similarly with the dismissal of Ettore Gotti-Tedeschi as head of the Vatican bank, a personal appointment of Cardinal Bertone. The banker was accused of misconduct, but again, cui bono?

It is right to recognise alternative possibilities. It may be that the growing dysfunctionality of the Vatican as an effective civil service was simply because the man in charge, the Secretary of State, was not up to the job. But it is also possible that the dysfunctionality relates to efforts to obstruct Cardinal Bertone’s administration, to prevent it running smoothly.

Either case gives some insight into persistent reports that many true and devoted servants of the Church in the Curia were becoming increasingly frustrated by what has been described as institutional blocked arteries. A conspiracy to undermine the Secretary of State looks dangerously close to being a conspiracy to undermine the papacy itself. On the other hand, if there really is corruption, it has happened on his watch and he must take responsibility.

Either way, it is a scandal to the faithful of the utmost seriousness. The Pope himself is clearly dismayed, referring on Wednesday to “sadness to my heart” and also to “human weakness, difficulties and trials”, which he was confident the Holy Spirit would help him overcome. He needs to know who or what is behind it. To find out, he may need help from beyond the Vatican’s walls, for instance from senior churchmen untainted by past contact with these unfortunate matters, men with no axes to grind.

Meanwhile the crisis risks undermining the Vatican’s credibility. How many of the decisions that issue forth from the Holy See are genuinely acts authorised by the Pope in possession of all relevant facts, and how many are the result of factional wrangling, rivalry, lobbying, partial briefing, misinformation – or worse?