VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
by John L Allen Jr on Jun. 05, 2012 NCR Today
On Monday night, the Vatican press office dispatched an e-mail alert to journalists with the text of an interview given by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, in the wake of Benedict XVI’s weekend outing to Milan for the church-sponsored World Meeting of Families. The trip was considered a major success for Benedict, culminating in an open-air Mass that drew more than one million people to Milan’s Bresso Park.
The Bertone interview is noteworthy primarily because it’s the first time the Vatican’s “prime minister” has spoken at length about the leaks scandal which has engulfed the church’s central government since January, and which exploded anew in late May with the arrest of the pope’s butler. Bertone’s comments take on special significance given that many analysts believe he is the primary target of the leaks, reflecting dissatisfaction among some Vatican insiders with his leadership.
Aside from insistence that Benedict XVI will not “allow himself to be frightened by attacks, of any sort,” perhaps the most striking element of the interview is Bertone’s comment that the leaking of confidential documents seems “carefully aimed, and sometimes also ferocious, destructive and organized.”
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