Vicious power struggle in the Vatican

Power struggle in the Vatican which Pope Benedict XVI plans to end - New Secretary of State?

A book, published in Italy is creating unrest in the Vatican and has made Pope Benedict XVI angry, which is the new publication "Santità Sua "(Holiness) by Gianluigi Nuzzi. In it were numerous confidential letters directed to the pope and his personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Gänswein. About such a breach of trust and violation of privacy, the Pope is furious. The Vatican announced on Saturday that it is initiating legal proceedings for "theft" and "receiving stolen goods". Legal proceedings have been started already within and outside the Vatican.

Code name "Mary" - behind the theft, the people around Cardinal Sodano are suspected

The journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi said that "Maria" was his source. Hidden behind this code name are several people who - according to the author - have smuggled documents from the Vatican which bring to light facts hidden by the Vatican State.

The Vatican looks quite differently on what is being sold as "noble deed" in the "struggle against dark forces" . There one sees the release of confidential documents in a power struggle of the old guard who turned against the appointment of non-diplomat Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as Secretary of State for the Vatican State. The culprits of the confidential data theft were suspected to be supporters of Bertone's predecessor Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

Bertone's appointment was not accepted by the "old guard"

Cardinal Sodano is a different figure to his successor in the prestigious Diplomatic Academy at the Piazza Minerva in Rome. It is not that Cardinal Sodano is himself accepted as an initiator of the leak, but certainly his immediate people. The public dissemination of the leaks has only one purpose: to discredit the incumbent Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone and, ultimately, to affect Pope Benedict XVI himself.

Many of the letters published in Nuzzis book are strictly confidential. The secretary of the Pope, after he had read them will have passed them from the papal apartment to the State Secretariat. There, someone has crept in, made photocopies and passed them on. The leak come from far up in the hierarchy of the Vatican State. At least the perpetrator acted with conscious or unconscious cover. Only then can one explain how easily they moved in the smallest state in the world.

Commission anticipates rapid investigation

An ad-hoc commission formed under the leadership of Cardinal Julian Herranz, Josef Tomko and Salvatore de Giorgi to give a name to the leak and bring to light the person who committed this "outrageous" and "criminal breach of trust". Investigations are already underway. It is expected that those responsible will be quickly determined. The range of persons who have access to confidential documents in the archives of the Secretariat of State is very small.

Diplomats against the Salesian

The new style of government by the Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone which can be summed up with the formula "less diplomacy and more Gospel" angered the previous team. This was increased by several errors made by the new Cardinal Secretary of State, especially in the first five years of the reign of Pope Benedict XVI. Cardinal Bertone had not supported enough the prophetic intellectual momentum of the Pope and made it visible within and beyond the Church. Above all, he gave preference within the Roman curia to Salesians when appointing to posts that traditionally were in the hands of Vatican diplomats The Cardinal Secretary of State is himself a Salesian of Don Bosco. His desire to surround himself with people he trusts is natural. The newly appointed are distinguished in academic qualifications, but they have no diplomatic experience. The split between the new and the old guard has been deepened

The appointment of the Bishop of Savona, Domenico Calcagno, as apostolic administrator of the Holy See, the Bishop of Vercelli, Giuseppe Versaldi, prefect for Economic Affairs and the rector of the Salesian University, Enrico Dal Covolo, to the Pontifical Lateran University, while these three are undoubtedly qualified for these tasks, caused the old team anger. And it seems that the anger was so great that they wanted the new Secretary of State to feel it. In this context, the nominations of the Pope, which concerned his closest circle, became the object of criticism. There were the new secretaries, of course, who brought their own way of working and the women who lead the papal household. John Paul II was cared for by nuns, but Benedict XVI prefers consecrated laity of Memores Domini, as the Vaticanist Paolo Rodari notes

Viganò made the power struggle public

The case of Viganò exemplifies the grave internal struggle and allowed it for the first time to be openly visible to the outside. Afterwards blows were returned and are thus likely to be directly related. Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a faithful follower of the former Secretary of State Cardinal Sodano, Secretary of the Governorate since 2009, the Papal States, was removed in October 2011 before the expiration of his term of office in the Roman Curia. Viganò, number two in the administrative office of the Papal States, wanted to become the new governor and competed to succeed Cardinal Lajolo. Instead, he was deported to the post of nuncio to the United States of America.

The ambassadorship is one of the most prestigious in the world, but Viganò did not wish his "deportation" to occur without comment. Probably in the hope of being able to prevent his transfer, the Curial Archbishop let off his the first "bomb". He wrote several letters to among others, Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone and Pope Benedict XVI in which he gave the names of those whom he claimed had placed him in a bad light with the goal of doing him a disservice The letter to Cardinal Bertone was leaked to the media and read in the television broadcast of journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi , who has since published a book. The appointment of Viganò to the US looks ill-fated. Especially now that the bishops are engaged against President Obama in a bitter struggle for religious freedom.

The "old guard" campaigned for Viganò

Viganò claimed in the letter that he had been removed because he wanted to take action against "bad apples" who had allegedly been lining their own pocket behind the back of the Pope. He did not forget to note that these "apples" stood close to the Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone. But there is nothing more could be done.

The Pope had decided that Viganò after his two strongly worded letters which immediately appeared in the media, and probably because of it, should leave Rome. He had to go although in his favour, and ultimately against Secretary of State Bertone, several important cardinals had offered support who invariably belonged to the old guard of John Paul II and who had prevailed mainly in the last years of his pontificate. Among them was Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the former prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, who was regarded in 2006 as a possible successor to Sodano as Cardinal Secretary of State, Cardinal Georges Cottier, theologian of the Pontifical House, and especially Cardinal Agostino Cacciavillan who sent the Pope an urgent letter, and is also a close companion of Cardinal Sodano.

Benedict XVI resolute advocate of transparency should be discredited as "coverer-up"

One purpose of the publicly leaked documents was also to discredit Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope, who more than any other supported since the beginning of his pontificate transparency and internally insisted on several occasions tackling unpleasant and painful affairs openly and aggressively, and not only supported this in the paedophile scandal but also implemented it with new rules is placed by the indiscretions which have a distortionary character as someone who puts the brake on and covers up. Whoever committed this breach of trust, reckons on the anti-religious reflections of many journalists.

"New Guard" does not give the expected backing of Pope

The truth is quite different. Behind the back of the Pope, two groups of the Roman Curia are in a bitter struggle against each other: the old guard, which Benedict XVI. wanted to overthrow after his election and the new guard, in which he placed his confidence, but which has not yet repaid that trust in reality. From it, he has not received the hoped-for support to strengthen the reform and renewal plan that Pope Benedict XVI envisions for the Church and with which he wants to equip the church for the third millennium.

These include profound reorientation such as in Europe taking leave of the traditional idea of a national church. It seems that different, heterodox old forces want desperately to hold on to the idea. To some extent they also include the paradox of "grassroots" groups that adorn themselves with the label of radical reformers. The Pope sees on the other hand faithful Catholics as a minority in Europe and ventures to speak for them in contrast to bishops and lay representatives . He sees his task is to strengthen the minority and not to indulge in the fiction of a national church, which no longer exists.

The Pope actually the victim of intrigue - appointment of a new Cardinal Secretary of State?

Pope Benedict XVI is the real victim of scheming game. But the Pope differently from that commonly assumed is a strong man of action. His understanding of many things is different from prevailing ideas. The Roman Curia is close to new structural reform including the appointment of a new Cardinal Secretary of State. As a candidate for the office of the Vatican's "prime minister", the French Archbishop Dominique Mamberti is discussed. Mamberti, currently Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Secretariat of State, and thus "foreign minister" of the Holy See is a member of the Diplomatic Corps. He is said to possess the ability to work well with both factions This peace, the Pope needs as a prerequisite for his renewal program. Thus, with this as well as the appointment of a new prefect of the CDF, two key changes are in the offing.

Pope plans to fundamental transformation of the Roman Curia

Pope Benedict XVI last Wednesday took advantage of the Wednesday meeting of the CDF at which the future of the SSPX was discussed to receive the Regensburg Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller in audience. Personnel decisions have not been taken neither for the one nor for the other post been taken. Completely other names for the Secretary of State and the CDF could arise.

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