VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome
A consistory, the event in which a pope creates new cardinals, is supposed to have a festive air. New cardinals bring family, friends and supporters to Rome, to see the sights and to enjoy one another’s company. The afternoon of the consistory is the only time the doors of the Apostolic Palace are flung open to the general public, giving the place the feel of a block party.
This week, however, it’ll be difficult to just let the good times roll, because the Vatican hosting the 22 new cardinals Benedict XVI will create on Saturday once again looks like the gang that can’t shoot straight.
Consider the headlines that have dominated the Italian press, with echoes around the world, in just the last 72 hours:
•“Plot against the Pope: Dead within 12 Months”
•“Pope is Isolated amid War in the Vatican”
•“Money Laundering, Priests Investigated: The Silence of the Vatican”
•“Gays, Scandals and Even Masonry: The Church Fears Deep Throat”
Not since a 2009 cause célèbre created by the pope’s decision to lift the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops, including a Holocaust denier, has the Vatican been gripped by such an intense wave of scandal – coupled with the inevitable finger-pointing, both public and private, about who’s to blame.
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