The Vatican leaks scandal rolls on according to John Allen in the NCR, with an Italian newspaper publishing two confidential letters concerning the unpopular and powerful Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
The leaked letters expose a failed effort by Bertone to take control of an important Catholic university and hospital system. The aftermath, also documented, shows Pope Benedict siding with the local bishops in the attempt to centralise church power in the Vatican.
The Catholic University of the Sacred Heart is a Milan-based organisation but with outposts around Italy, is the largest private university in Europe. It has 1,400 faculty members and some 7,000 employees.
The university is controlled by the Giuseppe Toniolo Institute of Superior Studies whose president is the Archbishop of Milan, the then Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi.
Bertone’s letter ordered Tettamanzi to step down and was proposing to replace him with the powerful Cardinal Angelo Scola, whom some see as a leading candidate to succeed Pope Benedict, however after Tettamanzi met with Benedict on April 30, 2011 no changes were made.
Allen predicts there will be more revelations, however for three reasons sees the this revelation as significant.
- It is rare that Benedict would side against his longtime friend Bertone and shows Benedict’s support and esteem for Bertone is not limitless.
- The popular perception is Rome is trending towards centralisation and it is rare for pope to side with local bishops, particularly when Scola is also a close friend of Benedict.
- This latest round of Vati-leaks shows the scandal is not over, and material is continuing to be leaked, or as Allen advances, has been leaked in bulk and is being selectively rolled out by media outlets.
Sources