Three Old Cardinals in Sherlock Holmes' Shoes
By Andrea Tornielli
The Pope has entrusted Cardinal Herranz, De Giorgi and Tomko with the task of investigating the leaked documents issue. The enquiry is set to be an uphill struggle On 17 March, the deputy Secretary of State, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, agreed to be interviewed by Gian Maria Vian, director of the Vatican daily broadsheet L'Osservatore Romano and assured that the Holy See was promoting thorough investigations into who was responsible for leaking a number of confidential documents from the Vatican archives. The so-called 'Vati-leaks' ended up on television and in the newspapers. The deputy said that the Secretariat of State had organized an in-depth investigation which would involve everyone, without exceptions, including all Vatican institutions. A criminal investigation is to be carried out by the Promoter of Justice of the Vatican Tribunal and an administrative one will be carried out by the Secretariat of State itself. An ad hoc committee is being established by Pope Benedict XVI to shed light on the whole affair. According to rumours circulating in the Vatican, the investigation announced by Mgr. Becciu did not yield great results and potential witnesses have not been questioned yet. Despite the efforts and commitment of General Domenico Giani, head of the Pontifical Gendarmerie, who in the last few years has developed sophisticated investigative methods, the enquiry seems to be groping in the dark. As far as the ad hoc committee (which the deputy mentions), is concerned, its establishment has only been announced today, more than a month later. A statement released by the Vatican Press Office reads: "In the wake of recent leaks of private and confidential documents on television, in newspapers and other communications media, the Holy Father has ordered the creation of a Commission of Cardinals to undertake an authoritative investigation and throw light on these episodes." But why cardinals? Some Vatican sources informally explained that "in theory, some high ranking figures in the clergy, even cardinals, might be involved in the leak of information. This is why it is necessary for the members of the committee to be cardinals, as they would have the same rank as the some of the potential culprits." It is clearly a completely hypothetical theory and so far the enquiry has not focussed on any cardinal. But nothing can be ruled out just yet, also because many have viewed the leaking of these documents as the act of people who seem determined to give a bad name to certain collaborators of Benedict XVI, in particular his Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone. The statement released today also reads: "His Holiness has determined that the said Commission of Cardinals, which will act at all levels on the strength of its pontifical mandate, shall be presided by Cardinal Julian Herranz, and shall have as its members Cardinal Jozef Tomko and Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi. The Commission of Cardinals celebrated its first sitting on 24 April to establish the method and timetable for its activities." Herranz, who is 82 and half years old, is a respected and well-liked Canonist. 88 year old Tomko has a long experience serving in the Curia and has first hand experience of the Cold War's communist regimes. De Giorni, who is 81 and half years old, has been a pastor in a number dioceses. The three cardinals, all over eighty, have all had the title of 'Emeritus' for a long time. It has been years since they led the Curia's departments and they can therefore be considered above all suspicion, since the inquiry into who the person or people responsible for the leaks might be, will be carried out at "all levels", not just middle/low levels. There are at least two lots of documents that have been leaked from the Vatican. The first was given to Gianluigi Nuzzi, a journalist and host of Italian television program Gli intoccabili (The Untouchables) on Italian television channel LA7. Nuzzi released the letters sent by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò to the Pope and to Cardinal Bertone and is about to publish a book with more documents that have never been disclosed before. The documents include letters, memoirs, and confidential notes of the Secretariat of State, emails and memos concerning the Vatican finances. The book should be released in approximately two weeks, by the end of May. Another lot of documents were those delivered to Il Fatto Quotidiano, an Italian newspaper edited by Antonio Padellaro. Among these documents was the anonymous note delivered to the pope by cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos regarding a supposed conspiracy against Benedict XVI, which apparently had been mentioned by cardinal Paolo Romeo during a visit to China. Other documents leaked to Il Fatto Quotidiano, were Viganò's letters, which had also been given to Nuzzi, as well as internal records and notes on the meeting/clash between the AIF (Authority for Financial Information) and the workgroup of the Secretariat of State which drafted the new rules against money laundering. Last but not least was the leak of a confidential report drafted by the Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi for the pope's secretary, don Georg Gänswein. This report was presented on Chi l'ha visto an Italian television programme on missing persons, broadcast on national state television channel Rai3. What can these Catholic Sherlock Holmes' do? What results can this disciplinary committee - which Ratzinger has entrusted with a cognitive enquiry and which will act with complete freedom at all levels without ruling out any possibility - achieve? For the time being it is hard to tell. Many people in the Vatican think that the task given to these three elderly cardinals is a truly arduous one. The mole or moles might still remain unknown for a long time to come.
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