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Vati-leaks. No Enquiry to Find the “poison-pen Writers”

By Marco Tosatti
Vatican Insider
March 16, 2012

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/inquiries-and-interviews/detail/articolo/ior-vigano-vati-leaks-13528/

The Vatican internal enquiry on the mole or moles who in the past weeks have leaked various letters and documents, causing a scandal of unprecedented proportions in the history of the Vatican, has not began and at this point it probably never will. Let us draw a brief summary of the situation to nudge the memory of our readers.

The first leak was a letter that had been written by the current Nuncio in Washington, then Secretary of the Vatican City Governatorate (the institution that oversees of the practical work of the State, including the Museums). The letter was meant for pope Benedict XVI and a copy was also sent to the Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, it deplored presumed internal scandals (which an enquiry has scaled down and in part denied). Following the leak of this document a large media campaign began and the Pope’s “right hand man” became the primary target.

The second document was written by the director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi and was addressed to the Papal Apartments. This document gave generic updates on the case concerning Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee who disappeared many years ago. The girl’s parents asked to see the Pope. Before the audience, the pope’s personal assistant, Mgr. Georg Gaenswein, had probably asked Fr. Lombardi to write a summary on the status quo.

Another leak concerned the Secretary of State and a conversation with the former archbishop of Milan, cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, on the presidency of the Toniolo institute. Under its umbrella there are institutions like the Gemelli hospital and the Catholic University. Bertone was allegedly trying to remove Tettamanzi to substitute him with someone he favoured. Two key letters on the matter were “generously” leaked to the press.

This last case is the most ambiguous of the three. The leak could have come from the Third Loggia of the Apostolic Palace where there certainly was a copy of the correspondence between Bertone and Tettamanzi, but it could also have passed through those close to the Italian Episcopal Conference. It’s just a theory.

The first leak , that of Carlo Maria Vigano’s letter, made many people think that the source of the leak could be someone near the current apostolic nuncio in the U.S. Even though copies of the letter are probably kept in the Secretariat of State too. But the note written by Fr. Lombardi to the Papal Apartments regarding Emanuela Orlandi raised the suspicion that the leak of the photocopy might come from within the Secretariat of State. It’s hard to imagine either the Press Office director or the pope’s personal assistant slipping a note in the pocket of some journalist.

Our suspicion is probably shared by others. The first person to question and hypothesize some answers was probably the Secretary of State himself who seems the most obvious target of this operation. However, apparently, the Secretary has not taken any steps to verify if his suspicions are founded. This inertia surprises the people closest to him, also because it leaves doubt and suspicion hanging on the Secretariat of State like a stormy cloud. The Substitute for General Affairs to the Secretary of State, Mgr. Giovanni Angelo Becciu is also opposed to any type of enquiry of the Third Loggia. He hasn’t had a moment’s rest after an extraordinarily short honeymoon period in harmony with Bertone himself, the man who appointed him. This opposition too is bewildering. According to the role description and tradition, the Substitute should be the one person who has at heart more than anyone else the smooth running, beyond any suspicion, of the “machine” he was entrusted with. This situation shows an objective weakness of the Secretary of State. So much so that there are open talks of the (once more extraordinary) possibility of assigning him a pro-Secretary of State to relieve him of some of his burdens, specifically those of diplomatic nature, as he is about to turn 78. This theory opens the door to a plethora of possible scenarios to come.

 

 

 

 

 




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