PHILIPPINES
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Editorial
It’s been called “a strategy of tension, an orgy of vendettas and preemptive vendettas that has now spun out of the control of those who thought they could orchestrate it.” The tale so far has touched on treachery, betrayal, greed, corruption, ambition, not to mention secret passageways, disappearing papers and tight-lipped suspects.
A government scandal? The latest Dan Brown potboiler? Skullduggery on Wall Street? A daytime soap?
Well, no. It concerns the Vatican—the Holy See, the epicenter of the 1.3-billion-strong Catholic faith and seat of power of its Supreme Pontiff and “Vicar of Christ on earth,” Pope Benedict XVI. In the year of our Lord 2012, the world’s tiniest state is in the throes of a scandal that has the world’s press buzzing.
Reports say that last May 23, one of the Pope’s closest aides, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested after Vatican investigators discovered confidential papal documents in his apartment. Described as a shy, taciturn man unfailingly loyal to the Pope, Gabriele—whose duties included helping dress Benedict in his vestments, serving him his meals and riding with him as a bodyguard in the Popemobile—is perhaps the last person to be suspected of betraying his master. He is said to be one of fewer than 10 people who held the key to secret entrances leading to the Pope’s private apartments. Now an Italian cardinal has called him the most damning name in the Catholic book—Judas, the betrayer of Jesus.
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