The “Vatileaks” scandal was one in a long series of recent Vatican scandals, and sadly it was not the last. Something of the dark irony of the scandal – “the Butler done it” – may have prevented people from seeing the seriousness of the incident.
In reality it’s one of the most serious security breaches in modern Vatican history.
But the real scandal is not the crime of the Butler.
The real scandal is what the leaked documents reveal: administrative chaos, lack of communication, financial mismanagement, intrigue, ambition and factional fighting at the highest level of the Roman Curia.
The culture which enabled the “Vatileaks” scandal to happen has been exposed. It’s a ball of wool that’s almost impossible to untangle – even by a pope. Something is very wrong inside the Vatican and its system. Plainly, we’re talking of systemic dysfunctioning.
A bad system makes good people do bad things.
Cardinals outside the Vatican Curia have expressed their concerns. In June 2012 the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris called for “a reform of the Curia which is unsuitable for the present-day Church.” A year earlier the Cardinal Archbishop of Austria said, “It is no secret that the Roman Curia is in urgent need of reform.”
The Pope’s last speeches have been loaded with words of warning against the very attitudes that have been exposed in the “Vatileaks” scandal.
Vatican observers have been quick to notice that Benedict’s last morning in office will be spent with the three senior Cardinals who investigated the affair, and who have prepared a tell-all report on the issue. Many people may want to turn the page on this moment; but it seems that one of Benedict’s last gestures will be to ensure that the book remains open until the inner workings of the Vatican can be reformed, root and branches.
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Fr Craig Larkin is a New Zealand priest who lives in Rome