What the next pope faces

There's a story at the NYT today about Vatican intrigue. The upshot is that it won't be smooth sailing for the next pope. The story begins by recounting the theft of the pope's papers by his butler.

And if that original sin weren't enough, the content of the leaks confirmed that the next pope has a very messy house to clean up. The letters and memos exposed petty wrangling, corruption and cronyism at the highest levels of the Catholic Church. The dirt ranged from the awarding of Vatican contracts to a plot, purportedly orchestrated by senior Vatican officials, to out a prominent Catholic newspaper editor as gay.

Always thinking sweet thoughts, these princes of the church. What I want to know about is the "homosexual liaisons" at the Vatican. The butler pointed to this, but no one ever followed it up. Gee, I wonder why.

I think my favorite line is this:

And as cardinal, after priestly sex abuse cases bounced for years among Vatican offices, the former Joseph Ratzinger took them over himself in 2001. 

Yes, we've heard it before but it can't be stated too often. It's the information that won't go away: Ratzinger was in charge of the entire pedophilia scandal. The popey guy! Catholics are great at ignoring this but their lack of attention doesn't erase the issue. The whole world knows that the pope was in charge of sexual abuse cases since 2001. Most of the children who were abused after that date owe their pain and horror to one man: Pope Benedict. (Okay, the priest who attacked them is also responsible. Still, that's quite a pope they've got there.)

The pope is going to be kind. Uh-huh.

I love how all the stories about the pope's butler insist the pope will grant him clemency. Perhaps they're thinking of a past pope. This one is downright mean.

Let's consider how they treated Paolo Gabriele after his Vatican "arrest". That sounds extremely kind, doesn't it? And now that he's on "house arrest" Gabriele is living "in his 'grace and favour' apartment situated inside the walls of Vatican City." I'd hate to see what they're going to feed him. And of course, there's this:

The Vatican prosecutor is also considering further possible, and more serious, charges against both Paolo Gabriele and Claudio Sciarpelletti - including violation of state secrets and attacking state security. These would involve heavier punishments than for aggravated theft. 

Sounds exactly like kindness and clemency. Poor Gabriele. On the other hand, if a certain handsome prelate were to whisper the idea of clemency in the pope's ears -- who knows? He might grant it.

The twisted Vatican butler trial

Holy Ghost and popey guy.

You knew it would get stranger, and it has.

Vatican Prosecutor Nicola Picardi, in seeking trial, quoted Gabriele [the butler] as telling his interrogators after his arrest that he thought that the role of whistle-blower in the church "belongs to the Holy Spirit, whom I felt in some way had entered into me." 

He was apparently trying to expose corruption at the highest levels of the Vatican hierarchy.

The indictment quoted Gabriele as telling investigators that he was "motivated by my deep faith and by the desire that in the church light is shed on everything." 

Vatican prosecutor Nicola Picardi quoted the butler as telling his interrogators that "seeing evil and corruption everywhere in the Church ... I was sure that a shock, even a media one, would have been healthy to bring the Church back on the right track." 

Ghosts: holy ones. This is what happens when you encourage people to believe in fairytales. Dog knows how this will turn out. I hope it creates a major ruckus. Let's hear more about that corruption at the top. Go, Gabriele (even though you're crazy).