VATICAN CITY
San Francisco Chronicle
Jeffrey Donovan, Bloomberg News
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) — Pope Benedict XVI, struggling to tame intrigue, won’t give cardinals access to a secret Vatican dossier into leaked papal documents before they meet next month to elect his successor.
The 85-year-old Benedict, who will become the first pontiff in 600 years to retire on Feb. 28, met with the three cardinals tasked to investigate the case known as “Vatileaks,” the Holy See press office said in a statement yesterday. The episode led last year to the arrest of the pope’s personal butler in one of the worst security breaches in modern Vatican history.
The pontiff thanked Cardinals Julian Herranz, Jozef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi for work that “made it possible to detect, given the limitations and imperfections of the human factor in every institution, the generosity and dedication of those who work with uprightness and generosity in the Holy See,” according to the statement. Still, “the acts of this investigation,” known only to Benedict, “will remain solely at the disposition of the new pope.”
The German-born pope is preparing to make his last public appearance tomorrow amid a wave of controversy, including the resignation of Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric following allegations of his “inappropriate” behavior toward priests.
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