VATICAN CITY
National Post (Canada)
Joseph Brean | November 3, 2015
Public admiration for Pope Francis’s expressions of loving tolerance on everything from homosexuality to divorce has helped conceal turmoil in the Vatican, where his push for transparency has set powerful traditionalists at odds with eager reformers. Now, the publication of two books based on leaked and possibly stolen documents, and the arrests of two senior Vatican officials on allegations of leaking the documents, have cast a rare light on the darker corners of the Holy See. The National Post’s Joseph Brean spoke with John L. Allen, Jr., a leading American Vatican watcher and author of papal biographies, about the latest Vatileaks scandal.
Q: What do these new books claim to reveal?
A: What is not clear to me is how much of the scandals documented in these books are genuinely new, versus stuff we already knew about … What we’re getting is maybe additional details. Bear in mind that the primary source material for both books, as we understand it, are documents from the study commission that Pope Francis created back in 2013 to lay the groundwork for the financial reform he’s now engaged in.
Q: Does this threaten the Pope reform agenda?
A: In general, although the Vatican has obviously launched a pre-emptive strike against these books by arresting a couple of people it suspects of being moles, I don’t think that the Vatican or Pope Francis personally has much to fear. If anything, I think it strengthens his hand in making the case for reform. He can point to these books and say, “This is exactly why you need me.”
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