I am strolling on the roof of the Palazzo San Carlo with the man who for eight years was the most powerful person in the Vatican after the pope: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's former secretary of state.

For decades, he's been one of the church's most powerful officials — and he's been suspected of playing a central role in some of the Curia's most mysterious intrigues, including last year's allegations that he mishandled millions of dollars through the Vatican Bank.

Sunlight gleams off the towering cupola of St. Peter's, that Roman sunlight which already portends the arrival of spring.

This terrace has for months been presumed to be part of Bertone's lavish — and widely criticized — retirement complex: a 2500-square-foot luxury apartment with a view of the city.

But the terrace is shared, and the supposed extravagance of the balcony can in fact be enjoyed by everybody in the building, without giving direct access to Bertone's apartment.

He gives a sly smile.

"A certain cardinal told me this would be a magnificent place to relax and meditate. But it was not up to me to decide," he says.

"Despite what has been written and said, it does not belong to me; it is for the use of all the building's residents."

Bertone lives here in an apartment on the third floor that for decades was the home of Camillo Cibin, the legendary head of security for John Paul II.

The condominium resembles many others in the Vatican area.

At first glance, Bertone's home is not more than 1000 square feet, comprising two small secretarial rooms for his secretary, a living room, a long corridor, a private chapel, a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom and a small terrace filled with grapes, olives and jasmine.

The room that serves as library and study is a whole other story.

There is a glass cabinet where the cardinal keeps his treasured Fiats: little red models of the Ferrari Formula One, black-and-white scarves and Juventus soccer balls autographed by the players.

For years, Bertone chose to be silent in the face of all the accusations that came down on him.

But now, 80 years old and no longer at the top of the Vatican hierarchy, he has decided to get a few things off of his chest — first, by showing his home, where those little models are perhaps the most valuable furnishings.

As for the secrets and machinations that he has been accused of, he is "collecting material" for an upcoming writing project.

The biggest of the accusations he will address by writing in his own hand the truth about the long, tormented era when he governed the church under three different popes, two of whom are now his neighbors.

Your Eminence, why is everybody out to get you?

Well... they say there are two motives. The first is because I was nominated as secretary of state without going through the Vatican's channels of diplomacy.

An exception to tradition.

You could say that. Since the transition is so venerated, it was not well received.

The second reason?

It concerns the job I performed. During the eight years I served as secretary of state, I executed my duties in perfect compliance with the pope, but [I] took actions, began procedures, reformed offices and made appointments that involved the advancement or exclusion of some people. And this might have made certain of them dissatisfied. But there was also a certain outrage...

Why outrage?

Well, it is undeniable that some of the problems we had to face were dramatic, the pedophile question for instance. I also worked to launch procedures for economic transparency and anti-laundering legislation. In the beginning, Benedict's papacy looked promising; but successive developments, including certain moments of tension, were intentionally provoked against the church. Perhaps, in some way, so were the attacks against me.

They wanted to harm the pope?

Somebody thought about it and somebody also wrote about it.

Ratzinger's papacy was extremely different from that of his predecessor.

Of course. But it developed in relation to that of his predecessor. Pope John Paul II thought very highly of Cardinal Ratzinger and led the church with his permanent and continual support, not just on a doctrinal and intellectual level but also, regarding certain aspects, in accordance with his vision of administration. There was, therefore, continuity between the two popes.

With a difference in communication abilities...

Yes, but also a difference in character.

But we must appreciate that Pope Benedict, in his turn, led the church as a priest enlightened not only spiritually, but technologically.

First as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and then as pope, he met thousands of bishops, listened to them one by one and kept abreast of local situations until he built up a global vision that allowed him to create guidelines and govern the church universally.

At a certain point [though], he felt the burden of not being able to continue this method of direct, concrete knowledge — that is, physical contact with local communities as Pope John Paul II had done before him and as Pope Francis is doing now.

It was a thought that troubled him until he realized that there was need of a pope with sufficient energy to travel and continue these meetings all over the place in person.

In other words, Pope Benedict's was a sort of unfinished papacy.

On the contrary. It was a courageous papacy.

Before every trip journalists would write that he wouldn't be able do it.

They would predict insufficient, substandard results and flops. But I think about the trips to Turkey and England that I made with him, to World Youth Day in his native Cologne when he led more than a million youths in silent prayer before the Body of Christ.

How surprised were you by his decision to leave?

I had guessed it, but put it out my thoughts.

I knew long in advance, at least seven months before. And I had many doubts.

We debated the topic at length after it seemed already decided. I told him: Holy Father, you must bestow upon us the third volume on Jesus of Nazareth and the encyclopedia of faith, before you sign things over to Pope Francis. Continue reading

Image: WN.com

Archbishop Parolin was installed as Secretary of State in absentia on 15 October, due to an unexpected surgical procedure he had to undergo that day.

Fr Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, made the announcement and said the archbishop thanks the Pope and those who were close to him in this period.

The archbishop will reside at the Casa Santa Marta for the time being. Source: Vatican Radio

Archbishop Pietro Parolin on Saturday was named the new Vatican secretary of state, usually described as the Holy See's 'prime minister'.

He brings to the job substantial experience in the Holy See's diplomatic corps, among the world's most ancient and respected, and considerable familiarity with the challenges facing the Church in Asia - currently the Church's most fertile soil.

Popes generally choose their right-hand men from within their ranks but Benedict XVI decided to break with tradition in 2007 when he turned to his long-time trusted aide, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, for the job.

With no diplomatic and little administrative experience, Bertone - a theologian by profession - had little background for the position of secretary of state.

The jovial but sometimes bumbling Bertone was partly blamed, especially by the media, for the many mishaps that plagued Benedict's pontificate, with its scandal-prone and inefficient Curia that drew criticism from many cardinals during the meetings that preceded the 2013 Conclave.

In this respect, the arrival of Parolin - a seasoned hand at the Secretariat of State known for his discretion and pragmatism - should help address the problems in the spirit set out by Francis.

Already in his first statement since his appointment, the Italian archbishop put in the forefront the values of service and humility - those that Francis has often said should be the hallmark of those who enjoy leadership positions within the Church.

"I feel very strongly the grace of this call, which is yet another and the latest of God's surprises in my life," Parolin wrote.

"Above all, I feel the full weight of the responsibility placed upon me: this call entrusts to me a difficult and challenging mission, before which my powers are weak and my abilities poor."

But the role of Secretary of State does not simply serve as 'chief of staff' to the pope. The position also entails coordinating the world's smallest state's relations with the rest of the world as well as with the Church's thousands of bishops.

As a career Vatican diplomat, Parolin served in the past in Africa and Latin America, and right now - until October 15 when he will take up his new office - he is the Vatican's ambassador to Venezuela.

But when he was Undersecretary for Relations with States (until 2009) - basically the Vatican deputy foreign minister - he oversaw some of the Church's most delicate international briefs. And he garnered some substantial Asia expertise, traveling all around the continent, from Pyongyang to Jakarta.

He orchestrated the Vatican's gradual rapprochement with Communist Vietnam, which eventually led in 2011 to the reestablishment of diplomatic ties that had been severed 40 years earlier when Ho Chi Minh's troops conquered Saigon.

Under Benedict, he also oversaw the German pope's attempt to thaw the Vatican's relations with China and Vietnam. The attempt with China was spearheaded by the pontiff's Letter to Chinese Catholics of 2007 but wasn't successful in stopping Beijing's government practice of forcing bishop appointments without papal consent.

When Parolin was appointed to the Caracas nuntiature and made an archbishop in 2009, some Vatican watchers described the move as a condemnation of Parolin's pragmatic approach, characterized as at odds with Benedict's style of focusing on preaching the truth rather than on subtle diplomacy.

Whether this characterization is correct remains to be seen.

What seems more certain, however, is that as a professional diplomat, Parolin will bring to the job a nuanced and realistic knowledge of the world, where the mark of a strong faith is not seen as a pretext for diplomatic grandstanding.

And looking at his past experience, the new Secretary of State will possibly make the world's largest continent and fastest growing region for the Church a more pressing priority in the Vatican's agenda.

Alessandro Speciale is a freelance journalist based in Rome
First published in ucanews.com

The letter, released on July 4, was dated July 2, just before the Pope left on his summer vacation at Castel Gandolfo.

In it, the Pope expresses "deep gratitude for your discreet closeness and enlightened advice, which I have found particularly helpful in recent months".

The time reference significantly refers to months marked by the leaking of confidential documents, the arrest of the Pope's butler, and the controversy over the Vatican bank and the dismissal of its now former director, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi.

The Pope adds: "Having noted with sorrow the unjust criticisms that have been directed against your person, I wish to reiterate the expression of my personal confidence, which I already declared to you in a letter on January 15, 2010, the contents of which remain unchanged as far as I am concerned."

Cardinal Bertone, the Pope's right-hand man, has been widely seen as the target of the so-called Vatileaks campaign involving the leaking of confidential Church documents.

This has fuelled speculation that the cardinal — who is more than two years beyond the mandatory retirement age of 75 — might soon step down from his powerful position.

Cardinal Bertone did submit his resignation, as required, when he turned 75 in December 2010, but in a letter dated January 15, 2010, the Pope declined to accept his resignation.

Now, in referring back to what he wrote in that letter, the Pontiff has made it clear that his thoughts on the question of Cardinal Bertone's retirement "remain unchanged".

Sources:

Vatican Insider

Catholic News Agency

Image: Freeforumzone

Were Benedict to die today, it would be Sodano, 83, who presides over the daily General Congregation meetings of the cardinals, which shape the discussions leading into the election of the next pope. It would also be Cardinal Sodano who would preside over the funeral Mass for the deceased pope, and who would celebrate the Mass Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice, the "Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff," which is the final public act before the conclave.

Cardinal Sodano, in other words, would be the face of the Catholic Church during the papal interregnum — a time when the eyes of the entire world are squarely upon Rome.

What's the problem with that? In a nutshell, Sodano has a troubling record of both words and deeds on the sexual abuse crisis. Granted, he's not generated the public backlash that, say, Cardinal Bernard Law faced in Boston. Yet if Cardinal Sodano is front and center during the interregnum, his history could easily be spun into a cause celebre.

In some ways, of course, it's unfair to reduce Sodano's legacy entirely to his profile on the crisis. He had a long, albeit controversial, diplomatic career (his role vis-a-vis the Pinochet regime in Chile as nuncio from 1978 to 1988 is still debated), and he served John Paul II for 15 years in one of the Vatican's most complex posts.

In the eyes of the people most scandalized by the sexual abuse crisis, however, Cardinal Sodano has become a symbol of the ambivalence.

Read more on What to do about Sodano?