VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Confidential documents of the Secretariat of State have been leaked to the press with the objective of damaging Cardinal Bertone, but they ended up having the opposite effect

Guido Horst
Vatican City

It was a particularly peaceful Sunday in the Apostolic Palace. Swiss Guards in civilian clothes escorted the guests with their usual tranquillity, in glaring contrast to the nervous anxiety with which the mass media have been following step by step the indiscretions that have leaked from the Vatican. The recent publications of confidential Vatican documents appear to be aimed at giving the impression that there is a conspiracy against a severely ill Pope, but how much awareness or lack of it there is within the papal household in relation to these rumours?

Firstly it must be mentioned that Cardinal Paolo Romeo’s trip from Palermo to Beijing last November was common knowledge. He…