RORATE CÆLI: Vatican leaks

Showing posts with label Vatican leaks. Show all posts

For the record: Full Statement of the Secretariat for the Economy of the Holy See versus recent calumnies against Cardinal Pell

For the background to this statement, see our post, Pell as Thomas More and Cardinal Fisher: "I will not bend to the Marriage!"

Pell as Thomas More and Cardinal Fisher: "I will not bend to the Marriage!"

Let no one be fooled: the current incessant notes and gossip about Cardinal Pell's brilliant job in reorganizing the finances of the Holy See/Vatican City State are not really about money... They are about his brave and unbending defense of the very words spoken by Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself on marriage, divorce, and adultery. Even the Italian journalists make fun of the sudden "reappearance" of Vatileaks, once again involving the Secretariat of State, and now directed not against Benedict XVI (not a threat anymore since his resignation), or Cardinal Burke, duly demoted, but Pell, who must be forced out. As Sir Thomas More and Cardinal John Fisher, Pell is in the way and must go.

Which is why the Cardinal's short note on marriage and Henry VIII needs to be published and made known as widely as possible. That is why he is being bothered: it's not about numbers and expenses at all, it's all about the "new doctrine" on marriage...

What about Henry VIII?

By Cardinal George Pell

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26 2015

Interestingly, Jesus’ hard teaching that “what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Mt 19:6) follows not long after his insistence to Peter on the necessity of forgiveness (see Mt 18:21–35).

Nicolas Poussin
The Adoration of the Golden Calf (1633)
The National Gallery

Here are the main episodes of this ongoing story.

1. June 11, 2013: "Gay lobby" mentioned. Rorate was the first venue to lift the matter from an obscure Chilean source: the content of the Pope's informal conversation with the leaders of the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR), in which the Pope himself spoke of a "gay lobby"; we were also the first bring it to worldwide attention with our translation. For more detail, see our original post.

2. July 18, 2013: Sandro Magister mentions strong hints of homosexual liaisons of one of the most powerful men in the Vatican, Msgr. Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca, manager of the Domus Sanctae Marthae (where the Pope lives) and named for relevant overseeing positions in the Vatican - in a series of posts, see here, here, and here.

Sandro Magister's several articles and the evidence detained by his magazine, L'Espresso, have never been publicly refuted.

3. July 28, 2013: Pope downplays "gay lobby".

During the press conference in the return flight from Brazil, the Pope is asked about Msgr. Ricca. He says the following:

In this case, I conducted the preliminary investigation and we didn’t find anything. This is the first question. Then, you spoke about the gay lobby. So much is written about the gay lobby. I still haven’t found anyone with an identity card in the Vatican with “gay” on it. They say there are some there. I believe that when you are dealing with such a person, you must distinguish between the fact of a person being gay and the fact of someone forming a lobby, because not all lobbies are good. This one is not good. If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?

As it can be seen, the now famous "Who am I to judge?" was indeed a specific answer to Sandro Magister's accusation, and to the "gay lobby" expression mentioned by the Pope himself to CLAR.

4. January 4, 2014: In revelations published by Swiss weekly Schweiz am Sonntag (a summary of the publication available here at the Daily Mail), an anonymous former member of the Swiss Guard makes breathtaking declarations:

A former Swiss Guard has claimed he was regularly asked for sex by a 'gay lobby' of high-ranking clergy in the Vatican.

Cardinals, bishops, priests and other officials in the Vatican had regularly attempted to engage the unnamed man, who was responsible for the Pope's security, in illicit rendezvous, according to new claims.

The former guard said he received up to 20 'unambiguous requests' from members of the clergy and was asked for sex by a dignitary close to Pope John Paul II, a Swiss weekly newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag reported.

The former guard said his experiences, several years ago, added weight to allegations of a 'gay lobby' being active in the Vatican.

5. January 18, 2014: First, a note: we tweeted about this on Sunday, soon after Mäder's interview was published in Schweiz am Sonntag.

Probably because no stern reaction came from the Vatican, the team of Schweiz am Sonntag went looking for Swiss Guards who would agree to go on record. And they found not just one Swiss Guard, but a former high Commander himself, former Kommandant Elmar Theodor Mäder, who served in the Guard for ten long years (1998-2008), and served in the highest position for six years (2002-2008). Despite denying the wilder details of the anonymous Guard to the same paper a fortnight earlier, his revelations are nothing short of explosive. Here is our translation of the actual article:

Ex-guard chief warns of secret society

Saturday, January 18, 2014 23:28

Elmar Mäder sees security problem in the Vatican.

He knows the Vatican and its secrets from his own experience: 50-year-old Elmar Mäder served ten years as a Swiss Guard. In 1998 Pope John Paul II appointed him Deputy Commander of the Pontifical Swiss Guards, which he then headed from 2002 to 2008 as Commander.

The man from Saint-Gall was responsible, along with his over 100 Guards, for the security of the Holy Father. He was therefore able to gain deep insights of the inner workings of the Roman Curia. Mäder denies statements by former Guards to Schweiz am Sonntag that they had been on the receiving end of sexual advances by clerics. In his opinion these somewhat "wild tales" that were told "obviously lacked any factual basis."

But the former Commander does not deny the existence of the much mentioned gay lobby in the Vatican, quite the contrary: "I cannot refute the claim that there is a homosexual network," Mäder affirms. "My experience speaks for the existence of such [a network]."

You should be aware of the following: according to Schweiz am Sonntag's own investigation, Mäder was the Commander who is said to have warned the Guards about some lustful clerics, telling them to stay away from the latter. It is even said that Mäder intervened in writing in the Curia [regarding this matter]. This fact would not have been much appreciated in the Vatican, and might have been one reason for his resignation. Mäder, who today is the CEO of a medical technology corporation will not comment on this himself: "It is not my intention to speak publicly about my conversations and correspondence with my superiors."

However, unrelated to former [specific] events, Mäder talks "generally speaking about the homosexual network." And these statements are themselves significant. "A work environment in which the vast majority consists of unmarried men is by itself a magnet for homosexuals, whether they seek it consciously or are unconsciously following an urge," says the former Commander of the Swiss Guards. "The Roman Curia is certainly this kind of environment. Just as it is unsurprising that pedophiles are to be found in many environments such as schools or sports clubs."

Mackey makes it clear that homosexuality itself poses no problem for him. Even the Church does not condemn «Homosexuality itself, because they are there, obviously."

But Mäder sees threats to the security of the Pope. His statement is explosive: "I have learned that many homosexuals tend to be loyal to each other rather than to other persons or institutions. If this loyalty goes so far as to become a network, or even a kind of secret society, I would not be able to tolerate within my decision-making area. In the Vatican, decisive people now seem to feel the same way."

This clearly means Mäder agrees with Pope Francis, who said at a private audience: "Yes, there is a 'gay lobby' [in the Curia]. We need to see what we can do about it." That even a man with a deep knowledge of the Vatican as Mäder called the network a "secret society" will lead to turmoil in Rome.

The mistrust of the former Commander of the Swiss Guards [regarding homosexuals] is clear in his following statement: "I have even asked myself the hypothetical question, would I have promoted a homosexual? No, I would not have." Mäder explained this difficult statement as follows: "Not in fact because of his homosexuality, but because I can only have an absolutely loyal cadre in the security profession. The risk of disloyalty would have been too great for me."

6. January 21, 2014: The sostituto of the Secretariat of State, Abp. Becciu, says to La Repubblica "enough" (basta!) to "anonymous accusations".

_____________________________

Note: It looks like stonewalling...

Why is this network dangerous? Not because homosexuals are dangerous people themselves or bound to promote "conspiracies", but because, as Mäder describes, in order to protect themselves, active homosexuals and their friends end up trading their loyalties to their superiors and the Institution founded by Christ for personal loyalties and blackmail. That is, since they know it is both wrong and condemned by permanent Catholic doctrine and practice, they create an underground loyalty network, and their loyalties go to their accomplices rather than to the Bride of Christ.

Why would revealing names make any difference? Sandro Magister could not have been more explicit in name-revealing and not much happened. All signs and hints seem to indicate that in the immense dossier that in all likelihood prompted Benedict XVI to consider his abdication and was personally handed by him to Francis in Castel Gandolfo there was information on the networks of influence inside the Vatican, in particular a "homosexual network". And no network seems to be more powerful there than the homosexual network - precisely for the reasons indicated by Mäder, that is, because, barring strict moral discipline and permanent enforcement at admission, an environment dominated by single men is bound to attract a disproportionate amount of homosexuals looking for likeminded people.

Instead of stonewalling (no pun intended), the Vatican should once and for all really start investigating and extirpating the secret network revealed by former Commander Mäder.

Business as usual in the Roman Curia

Fr. Michael Brown and the ways of the Curia whose shenanigans compelled Pope Ratzinger to leave:

OK I may have misunderstood but I thought the situation was as follows. The conclave gathered after the unfortunate resignation of pope Benedict XVI. He was the greatest Supreme Pontiff since his namesake Benedict XIV but was overwhelmed by the corruption he saw in the Church and so decided to throw his hat in. The conclave are of the opinion that one of the Great Problems is the Roman Curia. It is full of self-obsessed Promethean Neo-Pelagians only concerned with how they can make further progress up the greasy pole and is a scandal. So step forward Cardinal Bergoglio who has what it takes to do the job and is elected on the understanding that he will reform the Curia.

So what happens? To overcome the great evil of clergy careerism it is decreed that the title of Monsignor will be abolished for all below the age of 65 to prevent clergy working to procure a handful of purple buttons. Hurrah, they say this man means business. But wait: this applies to the whole Catholic world except the Roman Curia where it will be business as usual and priests over the age of 35 who have completed five years service will automatically become Monsignors. Well that shows the Curia they`d better change their ways.

Looking forward to the next reforms!

Setting things straight about the SSPX-Vatican talks:
What exactly happened in April-June 2012?
A guest article by Côme de Prévigny

A narrative has dominated the news on the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) in the past year: those difficult priests did not accept the extended hand of Pope Benedict XVI; hard-hearted people with stubborn demands, they missed the chance of a lifetime. As in the narrative created by news-creators such as John Allen Jr:

Short of standing outside their headquarters in Econe, Switzerland, in the snow and begging forgiveness like Henry IV at Canossa, Benedict XVI did everything possible to heal the split, and yet the society balked. In an Easter letter to friends and benefactors, Bishop Bernard Fellay asserted that Rome has imposed acceptance of the Second Vatican Council as a sine qua non -- a prerequisite, Fellay wrote, "to which we could not and still cannot subscribe."

Many observers believe it's now "game over," at least for the foreseeable future and barring some surprising concession on the Lefebvrist side. (Here's a prediction: Rejection of Benedict's overtures will go down as the "Camp David" moment for the Lefebvrists, comparable to Yasser Arafat turning down a 2000 deal that would have given the Palestinians basically 95 percent of what they wanted.) (Source)

We in Rorate have always stood for the regularization of the SSPX; one of our first editorials defended that "this is the time" for an agreement - and by "the time" we meant not 2006, but the Pontificate of Benedict XVI. Our readers know we have covered more extensively this matter than practically any other online source - even moments ago, on a matter reported on Sunday by the German press.

In April 2012, a probable regularization certainly seemed to be the case, and who can forget the (leaked) letter of SSPX Superior-General Bp. Bernard Fellay to his fellow bishops? On June 13, 2012, what seemed to be a meeting that would set the path for such reconciliation, following the acceptance by the Vatican of the negotiated Doctrinal Preamble, ended in flames as Bp. Fellay and his assistant met a Vatican side that suddenly came up with new demands - more stringent even than those contained in the May 5, 1988 Protocol. Why would the side that always has the upper hand in any Catholic discussion - that is, Rome - do this, that is, raise new stakes near the end if not from an interest to derail any agreement? Who in the Vatican forced the Supreme Authority's hand at the eleventh hour? Why?

We now know that, in the middle of Vatileaks (which were also made public at around the same time), the Pope's position gradually became untenable. We know that because of what would happen on February 11, 2013. We know now that his isolation, always present throughout the Pontificate, had become critical since the explosion of Vatileaks in the heart of the Pontifical Apartments - that Francis (rightly, it seems, considering what happened with his predecessor) has refused as his living quarters. And we can presume that the pressures on the Pope reached unbearable levels. Truly unbearable.

We asked our friend Côme de Prévigny to present a brief history of those decisive months: something happened in the Vatican between April and June 2012 that created the need for unprecedented demands, more stringent even than the contents of the 1988 Protocol; the "stubborn SSPX" narrative, regarding what took place in June 2012, is simply unsustainable.

____________________________________________

One year later

by Côme de Prévigny

Over one year ago, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith delivered to the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX) a document presenting three necessary conditions for the canonical recognition of the work of Abp. Lefebvre, a famous document that should put an end to several years of discussions.

Some weeks earlier, the entire press indicated that the regularization of the SSPX was certain. Andrea Tornielli, the famous Italian Vaticanist, predicted: "In May should be reached the end of the road leading the Society of Saint Pius X, founded by Abp. Lefebvre, to full communion with Rome." Henri Tincq, a journalist with Le Monde, not known for any indulgence with the traditional cause, has covered religious news for decades. According to him, it was merely a matter of days: "the imminence of an agreement that should be signed between the Vatican and the Society of Saint Pius X, the stronghold of integrist Catholics, is not in doubt anymore." On April 19, his fellow journalist Bernadette Sauvaget, of Libération, wrote: "Since Tuesday, some Vaticanists have affirmed that agreement has been reached." All the echoes emanating from the Pontifical Apartments allowed for the confirmation, without much second-guessing, that the doctrinal declaration proposed by Bp. Fellay had been accepted by the Pope and already the most hostile observers considered that Rome that conceded all ground to "the Integrists". On the side of the Society, however, the expectation remained realistic, by insisting on the fact that the roadmap remained uncertain. Several relevant points, both doctrinal and canonical, remained open to clarification and the discussions were not yet over.

The text sent back to Rome was a declaration dated April 15, 2012, proposed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and revised by the Superior General of the SSPX. In its great lines, it was a copy-paste of the May 5, 1988, Protocol of Agreement that Abp. Lefebvre had rejected not due to its doctrinal basis but because of its context (the points related to the Roman Pontiff or to the new Code of Canon Law are the same, for instance). The document negotiated twenty-four years later had its weaknesses, and its progresses that counterbalanced, on the other hand, those same weaknesses. For instance, the text speaks of conciliar formulations that are "not reconcilable with the previous Magisterium of the Church", while the 1988 Protocol was limited to saying that they are "reconcilable with Tradition only with difficulty". There were the document signed by Abp. Lefebvre indicated "a positive attitude of study and of communication" regarding the Council, the one that Bp. Fellay had written was stronger because it neutralized any "interpretation of these affirmations that may lead to present Catholic doctrine in opposition or in rupture with Tradition and with this Magisterium". Whatever the case may be, this counterproposal was presented, and it was said in the Roman halls that it would open the path to an imminent recognition. In order to prove that the search for unity begun by the founder was not seen as an optional point, the Superior General of the SSPX did not fear the public criticisms of his British confrere or the rebellious attitude of a friendly religious community.

However, the June 13 meeting three new points were superposed to these exchanges, which would, in a few hours, ruin the process begun many months earlier. Among these conditions was to be found the recognition of the continuity of the conciliar texts in relation with the preceding Magisterium, which contradicted the doctrinal declaration that mentioned, on the contrary, their non-reconcilable character. Moreover, the authorities introduced the need to recognize the "liceity" of the new mass, a new term that had been, it was known, the object of bitter debates. This had never been demanded, neither in 1988, nor of the different institutes regularized up to that moment. These new demands left the impression that there was a desire to interrupt the process very elegantly as well as suddenly, by the introduction of inadmissible points.

What were the motives for this about-face that was sudden and that was incongruous with the attitude adopted by Benedict XVI for so many years? Undoubtedly, the influence of certain heads of dicasteries strongly opposed to this recognition, as well as specific diplomatic pressures, had their influence on the inclination of the pope. A few months later, the latter resigned from his position in the stormy context of the Vatileaks. As a French university professor rightly remarked recently, these leaks have ceased as if by magic since pope Ratzinger stopped presiding over the fate of the Church. Does this mean that the dossier of relations between Rome and the SSPX is dead and buried and that the Traditional world will relive those days of silence that were the 1990s? It is true that Benedict XVI was very close, personally, to the matter. Nevertheless, the restart of relations in the early 2000s took place in the pontificate of John Paul II. In France, in any event, the Society of Saint Pius X had, on the ground, obtained more for its local pilgrimages from bishops supposedly far from it than from those considered conservative. Bp. Perrier, of Lourdes, opened for years his shrines, lending liturgical objects and ornaments, while the diocese of Versailles, governed by Bp. Aumônier, who knew Abp. Lefebvre well in the early years of his priestly life, never granted anything to the work that the latter founded.

Beyond these considerations, the dynamics of the traditional movement, invigorated by the liberation of the Mass and the lifting of sanctions affecting the bishops of the Society, will increasingly make clear the unavoidable character of Traditional groups. Ignoring them now seems hardly tenable.

Vatileaks - final chapter in this pontificate

The Holy Father received in audience this morning Cardinals Julian Herranz, Jozef Tomko, and Salvatore De Giorgi, who formed the commission to investigate the leaks of private information. They were accompanied by the commission’s secretary, Fr. Luigi Martignani, O.F.M., Cap.

At the conclusion of their mission, the Holy Father thanked them for the helpful work they did, and expressed satisfaction for the results of the investigation. Their work made it possible to detect, given the limitations and imperfections of the human factor of every institution, the generosity and dedication of those who work with uprightness and generosity in the Holy See at the service of the mission entrusted by Christ to the Roman Pontiff.

The Holy Father has decided that the acts of this investigation, known only to himself, remain solely at the disposition of the new pope.

[Holy See Press Office]

For the record: La Repubblica's summary of
the Herranz-Tomko-De Giorgi report.
The "improper influence" of the "underground"

For the largest Italian daily La Repubblica, the key part of the "300-page" cardinalatial report ("relatio") on the Vatican leaks ("in two red hardbound tomes") -- delivered to the Pope in December 2012 and currently under pontifical secret, and that supposedly influenced him to present his renunciation of the Supreme Pontificate -- was the identification of a hugely powerful and highly influential "homosexual underground" in the Curia and in the universal Church. (Note: the first time the Holy Father was supposed to have been warned of this part of the report was in "October" 2012, in one of his weekly unnanounced audiences about the investigations with Cardinal Herranz.)

This is curiously related to Fr. Dariuz Oko's article published in June 2012 and whose translation was posted last week here.

The original article is available here in Italian (here in Bing Translator's side-by-side view), and an image of the article is presented below, in case the first link becomes unavailable. The Guardian's reasonable summary of the article is available here. In his press conference today, Vatican spokesman Fr. Lombardi refused to confirm or deny any detail of the report.

Click for larger view

The quiet life

The Washington Post published a long article on Saturday on Vatileaks and the inner workings of the Holy See - nothing new. But it contained a wonderful portrayal of what we could call "a day in the life of Bishop Giuseppe Sciacca", current Secretary of the Governatorate of Vatican City State, a gifted Latinist and a friend of the Traditional Mass. He is Sicilian, so perhaps the reporter was expecting something spicy, or mysterious, from the man who is the budget director of a large and wide-ranging global corporation. Instead...

On a rainy December day, Benedict clapped along with jugglers, lion tamers and puppeteers in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall as the church opened its arms to the world of itinerant circus performers. While a woman wearing a cat mask twirled four hula hoops in the hall, Monsignor Giuseppe Sciacca was chauffeured across a piazza behind Vatican walls to greet a visitor.

“Good morning, dottore!” Sciacca called from the passenger seat of a small blue Volkswagen. Sciacca, the successor of Viganò, the central player in the leaks scandal, is a sprightly and gregarious Sicilian who walks around Rome doffing his hat to the waiters and storekeepers. He tends to stop walking when he has something to say, with the expectation that his audience will stop to listen.

Sciacca, who will play a principal role in organizing the papal transition, has a reputation for intelligence and honesty, but unlike his reform-minded predecessor, he is considered loyal to Tarcisio Bertone, Benedict’s No. 2. When asked for an interview as he window-shopped for vestments on Via dei Cestari, behind the Pantheon, he said he first needed to see the questions and get permission to talk. He shrugged off the suggestion that an official request should go through the Vatican press office.

He would need permission, he said, from Bertone.

As the Volkswagen rolled to his Vatican apartment, Sciacca claimed that he had overruled Bertone and his lieutenants in agreeing to an interview. “They told me not to talk to you!” he said, jokingly comparing himself to a “shepherd who invites in the wolf.”

The driver pulled up to Palazzo San Carlo, a centuries-old apartment building opposite the Vatican’s private gas station. Above the few steps, renovated with wheelchair access for the aged prelates, a polished gold plate held the names of the building’s residents. On a lower floor were offices belonging to one of the Vatican’s financial institutions. On the top floor lived one of the cardinals Gabriele had named as a sympathizer to his concerns about the Vatican.

Sciacca’s home is a spacious L-shaped apartment warmed by thousands of books broken into sections reflecting his years as a Latinist, high school teacher of literature and philosophy, canonist and judge on the church court. He pointed out a portrait of Benedict overlooking the hallway that he had commissioned.

“Economics, the budget, transparency! This is what I think about,” he said. “It cost a couple hundred of euros. It’s not necessary to spend more. Plus Michelangelo’s not around anymore.”

Sciacca had his good-governance talking points down. In the corner of his bedroom, opposite a purple clerical robe hung on the outside of a wooden armoire, a single bed lay under a modest comforter. (“I’m single” he joked.) In the study was a faux-marble statue of the Good Shepherd with a sheep draped over his shoulders that he had picked up “at a good price in the Vatican museums,” he said.

In September 2011, Italian religious writer Antonio Socci mentioned that the Pope was considering resigning following his 85th birthday, in April 2012. Rorate was, of course, the first English-language venue to actually translate his words at the time.

Socci yesterday recalled his prediction, and added that the main reason that prevented the Pope from this act in 2012 was the explosion of the "Vatileaks" scandal - and that, as soon as the main aspects of the crisis were resolved (with the pardon granted to Paolo Gabriele), His Holiness decided to act. The troubling final cardinalatial report on Vatileaks, by the way, which is currently held in secrecy, apparently includes many names and information which could be of great use to the future Pontiff.

Gabriele pardoned

Communiqué of the Holy See Press Office:

This morning the Holy Father Benedict XVI visited Paolo Gabriele in prison in order to confirm his forgiveness and to inform him personally of his acceptance of Mr Gabriele's request for pardon, thereby remitting the sentence passed against the latter. This constitutes a paternal gesture towards a person with whom the Pope shared a relationship of daily familiarity for many years.

Mr Gabriele was subsequently released from prison and has returned home. Since he cannot resume his previous occupation or continue to live in Vatican City, the Holy See, trusting in his sincere repentance, wishes to offer him the possibility of returning to a serene family life.

Rome-SSPX - Important - With the Pope's own signature: Vatican II and the post-conciliar Magisterium must be accepted in full

A transcript of a conference given by the French bishop of the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX), Bp. Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, in the priory of Saint L.M.G. de Montfort (Maine-et-Loire, France), on September 16, 2012, was made public by French forum Un évêque s'est levé. The main excerpts, according to the available transcript, dealing with the Rome-SSPX negotiations are the following:

"[T]he agreement considered in 2011-2012 lasted for six months, it has not been blessed by the Blessed Virgin. (We had prayed rosary after rosary, and we keep doing that, that is very good.) But the Blessed Virgin was clearly not behind this idea. She did not walk this path, because on June 30 (it's a secret that I reveal to you, but it will be made public), on June 30, 2012, the Pope wrote with his own hand a letter to our Superior General, Bp. [Bernard] Fellay, signed personally: 'I confirm to you in fact [that], in order [for you] to be truly reintegrated into the Church [Tissier says:] (let us move beyond this expression), it is necessary to truly accept the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar Magisterium.'

"It is, as a matter of principle, a stopping point, because we could not accept it anyway; we would not sign it anyway. One can enter into details, because the Council is so vast one can find good things in it, but this is not the essence of the Council."

...

"Evidently, we could not sign it. Because we are required to sign it, the agreements do not move forward. I would say that [if] on this point there is no agreement, there will be no agreement.

"This is all I can tell you, I do not think Rome will let us go. The Modernist Rome [sic] will come close to us [once again], it is inevitable. They are determined, they are persistent, they want to lead us to the Council, therefore pray. Personally, I would never sign things like that, that is clear."

In Gianluigi Nuzzi's book filled with Vatican leaks published earlier this year, Sua Santità, a specific chapter was devoted to the 2009 "Williamson crisis", and, in it, mention was made of the note of the Secretariate of State made public by L'Osservatore Romano on February 4, 2009 (we provided a translation of the Italian original text as soon as it was published). Nuzzi included this in his book:

"...[T]he entire phrase 'the Holy Father does not intend to leave aside an indispensable condition' [in the Secretariat of State's draft] was cancelled by Benedict XVI and replaced with, [in his own handwriting,] 'For a future recognition of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X, the full acknowledgment of the Second Vatican Council and of the Magisterium of Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, and of the same Benedict XVI is an indispensable condition'." (Gianluigi Nuzzi, Sua Santità, Chiarelettere, 2012, page 208)

It is unclear if this same content was merely mentioned by Pope Benedict XVI with a reference to the 2009 note in the June 30, 2012, letter mentioned by Tissier de Mallerais, or if the 2012 letter has more precise demands on the matter.

[French forum content also reported by Andrea Tornielli for La Stampa - in Italian]

For the record: Gabriele charged

The documents were published yesterday (in Italian). Summary of current proceedings by Vatican Radio:

(Vatican Radio) – Paolo Gabriele has been formally charged with aggravated theft and will stand trial for his role in leaking private documents, pertaining to the Holy Father and other Curia officials, to Italian press. Emer McCarthy reports:

A 35 page document outlining the Vatican magistrates’ charges against Pope Benedict XVI’s former butler was presented to journalists Monday. In the document examining judge, Piero Bonnet, also names a second suspect in what has familiarly become known as the Vatileaks scandal, Claudio Sciarpelleti, who will stand trial on minor charges of ‘aiding and abetting’ Gabriele after the fact.

Gabriele was arrested in May 23, after confidential letters and documents were found in his apartment in Vatican City State. Originally held in detention in the Vatican jail, he has since been released under house arrest.

Sciarpeletti, a lay computer technician at the Secretary of State and acquaintance of Gabriele, was briefly detained May 25, after Vatican police found him in possession of an envelope from Gabriele. Held overnight for questioning, Sciarpeletti was released the following morning. However, his “contrasting versions of the facts” during an interrogation lead examining magistrates to proceed with minors charges. He has incurred a cautionary suspension from work but continues to receive his salary.

According to Bonnet’s report, Paolo Gabriele, after having originally denied all involvement in the scandal to Pope Benedict XVI’s personal secretary, Msgr. Georg Gaenswein, during later interrogations confessed to having provided the documents to Italian Journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, but without receiving any money.

While recognising the illegal nature of his actions, he claimed they were motivated by the fact he believed the Pope ill-informed of the evil and corruption which he saw in the Church. Claiming to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit, Gabrielle stated his certain belief that a “media shock” might be “healthy” for the church to bring it “back onto the right track”.

Bonnet’s report also reveals that other important objects were found during a police search on the former Papal assistant’s house. These include; a cheque made out to Pope Benedict XVI dated to March 26 2012, to the sum of 100 thousand euros; a gold nugget from Peru again addressed to Pope Benedict XVI and a 16th century Venetian edition of the Aeneid, also destined for Pope Benedict.

The report states that Gabriele underwent two independent psychiatric evaluations, at the request of attorneys for the defence and prosecution. The three sessions carried out between June 18 and the beginning of July resulted in diverging opinions on his mental faculty at the time of his actions. The conclusions of the Promoter of Justice are also based on these evaluations, according to whom Gabriele was aware of the gravity and illegality of what he did, and hence the decision to formally charge him and to go to trial. Bonnet emphasised in the report that Paolo Gabriele's case was only one part of the over-all inquiry into the leaking of documents from the Vatican, which magistrates will continue to pursue.

Presenting the complete and detailed finding’s to journalists, Holy See Press Office Director, Fr. Federico Lombardi, underlined the Vatican’s desire for transparency and Pope Benedict XVI’s respect for the Vatican’ magistrates role, competence and autonomy. A respect the Pope personally spoke of in July meeting with the investigating attorney’s and judges.

This – added Lombardi - also explains the fact that the outcome of Cardinal’s commission of inquiry into the leaks [appointed by Pope Benedict early March] has not yet been published, in order not to interfere with the magistrates work. He also confirmed that Pope Benedict has received the report and that as Pope, he can intervene at any stage of the judicial process should he feel it opportune. However, the fact he hasn’t done so up until now leads us to assume that trial will go ahead.

A date for the trial has not yet been set, concluded Fr. Lombardi, but it will not be before Sept. 20 when the Supreme Tribunal of the Holy See returns from recess.

The Pope to future papal diplomats: be faithful and trustworthy

From today's papal speech to the community of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, alma mater to the Vatican's diplomatic corps, a corps whose sympathies and loyalties have not escaped scrutiny in the aftermath of the Vatileaks scandal as well as of previous controversies during this pontificate:

God’s faithfulness is the key to, and the source of, our own faithfulness. I would like today to remind you of precisely this virtue, which well expresses the unique bond existing between the Pope and his direct collaborators, both in the Roman Curia and in the Papal Representations: for many, it is a bond grounded in the priestly character that they have received, which is then specified in the particular mission entrusted to each in the service of the Successor of Peter.

On Peter's side? Or on the other? From wealthy families to "poor" religious, the institutional Liberals keep revolting against the Pope - by way of letters...

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1. The wealthy enablers of "Progressivism" are mad at the Pope.

In Rome, a very liberal, very rich Dutch couple - disappointed with the appointment of the Archbishop of Utrecht -, tried to influence the Pope. Vaticanist Luigi Accattoli first mentioned the matter, which is contained in the Vatican leaks's book "Sua Santità":

Roberto de Mattei

What is happening in the Vatican? Catholics all over the world are in consternation and wondering what sense to make of the news that has broken out in the press and that appears to reveal the existence of an ecclesiastical war going on inside the Leonine Walls, the consequences of which are being deliberately exaggerated by the mass media. Nonetheless, even if it is not easy to understand what is happening, we can make an effort to do so.

It is not without significance that this self-combustion is flaring up right at the moment when the 50th anniversary of Vatican II is about to take place. Among all the documents of that Council, the most emblematic and perhaps the most discussed is the constitution Gaudium et Spes, which the theologian Joseph Ratzinger did not like. In that document, the embrace of the Church with the contemporary world was celebrated with irenic optimism. It was the world of the 1960s, steeped in consumerism and secularism; a world in which grew the shadow of Communist imperialism, which the Council did not want to address.

The Vatican saw the positive aspects of modernity, but was not aware of the dangers and so renounced denouncing its errors, refusing to acknowledge its anti-Christian roots. The Vatican set out to listen to the world and tried to interpret the “signs of the times”, assuming that history would bring indefinite progress (automatically). The Council Fathers appeared to be in a hurry to abandon the past, in the conviction that the future would be propitious for the Church and mankind. Unfortunately, it was not so. In the years following the Council, the vertical pursuit of transcendent principles was replaced by the pursuit of earthly and worldly values.

The philosophical principle of immanence was translated into a horizontal and sociological vision of Christianity, symbolized, in the liturgy, by the altar facing the people. The “conversio ad populum” brought with it unprecedented artistic devastation and transformed the image of the Mystical Body of Christ into that of a social body emptied of its supernatural soul. But if the Church turns its back on the supernatural and the transcendent in order to turn towards the natural and the circumstantial, the teachings of the Gospel, that one needs to be "in the world, but not of the world," are turned upside down: she stops christianizing the world and is made worldy by it.

The Kingdom of God becomes power structure in which calculation and political reason, human passions, and contingent interests dominate. The “anthropological shift” put a lot of focus on the presence of man to the Church, but very little on the presence of God. When we here speak of the Church, naturally, we do not refer to the Church herself, but to the men who are part of Her. The Church is of a Divine nature which cannot be darkened and that makes Her always pure and immaculate. But Her human dimension can be covered by that soot which Benedict XVI, during the Via Crucis just before he was elected, called “filth” and that Paul VI, faced with the conciliar rifts, defined, with words unwittingly prophetic, “the smoke of Satan” that had entered the temple of God.

Before the weakness and misery of men, the smoke of Satan are the heretical discourses and ambiguous affirmations, which started with the Second Vatican Council and still continue in the Church. Not to mention that the work has not yet begun that John Paul II called a "purification of the memory” - but that we could more simply call an “examination of conscience”, in order to understand where one has erred, what one must correct, and how one must correspond to the will of Jesus Christ, Who remains the only Savior, not only of His Mystical Body, but of a society gone adrift.

The Church is going through an age of crises, but She is rich in spiritual resources and holiness which continue to shine in many souls. The hour of darkness is always accompanied by the hour of light which has kept shining brightly throughout the history of the Church.

[Source: Riscossa Cristiana - Translation: Contributor Francesca Romana]

Vatican leaker and accomplices: what do they want to disrupt?

Salvatore Izzo is a well-respected religion correspondent for Italian news agency AGI, and sent this note today to the Papa Ratzinger blog:

A newspaper [La Repubblica, the reference is to the article posted by us here] has published other Vatican documents, and it had done so in an attempt to redimension the responsibility of Paolo Gabriele.

It is an unacceptable operation. At the same time, it is clear that the documents have the same origin, therefore we may reasonably presume that it was an accomplice of PG - who had received them prior to the arrest - who handed them to the paper. This assumption seems coherent with the affirmation by Father Lombardi that, on this matter, has said: "we have seen anonymous and signed documents published for months, it is clear that whoever has received this great amount of texts is not considering the intention of making everything known at once and leaving us in peace".

On the other hand, in the article, a true and actual attempt to blackmail the Pope's private secretary and the Cardinal Secretary of State is hinted. It seems to me that journalism has nothing to do with this. We speak here of theft and blackmail, of media operations guided from afar and attempting to block the cleaning operation that Benedict XVI has ordered and that causes so much fear in the old curial apparatus, particularly those compromised with Father Marcial Maciel, and not only him. Among other things, the psychological conditioning that may have induced PG to betrayal recalls the conscience control operated upon the Legionaries by their criminal founder, and this makes us wonder. What also makes us wonder is the coincidence of the offensive of the moles and the path towards reconciliation with the Lefebvrists, that disturbs part of the faithful and of the Hierarchies so much.

The barque of Peter, in the Pope's own words

From Vatican Information Service, the Pope's impromptu words yesterday following a meal at the end of his visit to Milan:

"I simply want to say thank you for everything I have been able to experience over these days, for this experience of the living Church. If from time to time we may think that the Barque of Peter is at the mercy of ruthless adversaries, it is also true that we see that the Lord is present, He is alive, He truly rose again and holds the government of the world and the heart of mankind in His hand. This experience of the living Church, which lives from the love of God, which lives for the risen Christ has been, let us say, the gift of these days. Thus let us give thanks to the Lord".

The hysterical mafia

Italian daily La Repubblica published a report of further leaks of confidential documents of His Holiness sent to the paper - this time, three documents, one a letter sent by Card. Burke on the approval of the Neocatechumenal liturgy, and two personal notes signed by the Pope's private secretary, Mons. Gänswein. This time, the leaks were sent with a strange threatening cover letter (see our note below).

The following is the main excerpt of the article:

Pope on leaks crisis: The Lord will always support the Church

The Pope spoke publicly on the current Vatican problems for the first time today, following the general audience:

The events of recent days involving the Curia and my collaborators have brought sadness to my heart. However, I have never lost my firm certainty that, despite the weakness of man, despite difficulties and trials, the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit and the Lord will ensure she never lacks the help she needs to support her on her journey.

Nonetheless there has been increasing conjecture, amplified by the communications media, which is entirely gratuitous, goes beyond the facts and presents a completely unrealistic image of the Holy See. Thus, I wish to reiterate my trust and encouragement to my closest collaborators and to all those people who every day, with fidelity, with a spirit of sacrifice, and in silence, help me carry out my ministry. [VIS translation, corrected]

Let us pray for the Holy Father.