The Vatican’s outgoing Secretary of State has lashed out at the “vipers” in the curia who undermined him – a day after Pope Francis named his successor.
Asked about his seven years in office by the Ansa news agency, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said: “I see the record of the past seven years as positive. Of course, there were a lot of problems, especially in the last two years.”
He hit out at “a combination of crows and vipers” – the Italian word for crow, corvo, denoting people who leak secrets. “But this should not cloud what I consider to be a positive record,” he added.
He made his comments a day after Pope Francis named Archbishop Pietro Parolin, 58, currently nuncio in Venezuela, as Cardinal Bertone’s replacement, with a handover due next month. Continue reading