The Final Battles of Pope Benedict XVI

[xchrom]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/pope-benedict-focuses-on-legacy-while-ignoring-vatican-power-struggle-a-838830.html

***SNIP

A House in Disarray

Fear is running rampant in the Curia, where the mood has rarely been this miserable. It's as if someone had poked a stick into a beehive. Men wearing purple robes are rushing around, hectically monitoring correspondence. No one trusts anyone anymore, and some even hesitate to communicate by phone.

It all began in the accursed seventh year of the papacy of Benedict XVI, with striking parallels to the latter part of Pope John Paul II's papacy. The same complaints about poor leadership and internal divisions are being aired outside the Vatican's walls, while the pope himself seems exhausted and no longer able to exert his power.

Joseph Ratzinger turned 85 in April. This makes him the oldest pope in 109 years, and one of the few popes who have exercised what Benedict has called this "enormous" office at such an advanced age.

Of course, he is still enviably fit, both mentally and physically, especially compared to his predecessor in his later years. But speaking has become unmistakably more difficult for Benedict than at the beginning of his papacy, and it's hard to miss that his movements have become stiff and cautious.

[cbayer]

1. Great article, xchrom

There really should be a reality show.

[dimbear]

2. That particular article is a great summary of the situation, and hats off to the translator.

I've been particularly enjoying the Italian authorities' concerns that Gotti Tedeschi knows too much, as if that's the problem, and the daring move made by the Vatican issuing an official specific way to tell whether appearances of the Virgin are real.

They're right on the ball.

[Angry Dragon]

3. When your church is built on so many lies, the lies

will come back and bite you

[dimbear]

4. This may all break public this week.

According to La Stampa, Paolito is singing. Facing the dual threats of 8 years incarceration and excommunication, he has named names.

The only hint so far as to whom seems to be this:

"Sono così affiorati i nomi dei sospettati che la commissione cardinalizia ha riferito sabato al Pontefice e che già in settimana potrebbero essere resi pubblici. Alcuni capi dicastero e presuli emeriti (interrogati dai loro pari grado Herranz, Tomko e De Giorgi) non avrebbero fornito spiegazione ritenute sufficienti sulle fughe di notizie e il passaggio di documenti riservati."

The Italicized part (heh heh) means "some chief officers in the foreign office and emeritus bishops" haven't furnished explanations held to be sufficient concerning the escape of secret documents.

La Stampa also adds that both clergy and laity are implicated. Beyond, of course, Paulito. The Italian press's pet name for the 3 investigators? The 007 Cardinals.

[cbayer]

5. How's that screenplay coming, dimbear!

This is some great stuff.

[dimbear]

6. It keeps me running to the dictionary, too. The Europeans love their slang, and they

like to refer to all these different officials by the colors of their hats or vestments. Truly confusing, which is the explanation if I make a mistake.

And wow--there are some sites out there that I'm ignoring that are just rabid. Whew.

[dimbear]

7. Vatican spokesman blames media and the Devil:

http://www.wtop.com/220/2878731/Vatican-blames-media-for-latest-scandal---again

This is a sad commentary on the state of Italian entertainment. The fault lies with imaginative novelist Dan Brown, and the nickname of the detective Cardinals comes from another one. Where are the Italian imaginations at work?

[meow2u3]

8. The Devil made me do it!

No mention of personal responsibility on the part of Pope Benny.

He never does anything wrong; they're perfect. God told him so.

[dimbear]

9. Gianluigi Nuzzi loses his TV show over this......

Bestselling author Nuzzi has learned his primetime TV show will not be back next year. That is the show he used to put so many of these explosive scandals on the table. He called it "The Untouchables" which I assume is an homage to our show of the same name and vaguely similar plot.

Nuzzi won't be exactly penniless. His blockbuster about the Papacy is headed for its third printing.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianluigi_Nuzzi

[spin]

10. There may only be one more Pope ...

Benedict XVI Is the Second-to-Last Pope, Says Irish Prophet Malachy

By KENNETH HAYNES, IrishCentral.com
Sept. 5, 2009

The prophecies of the Irish saint Malachy, the 12th century bishop of Armagh who predicted all the popes, have thrilled and dismayed readers for centuries. He has stated there will be only one more pope after the current one, and during his reign comes the end of the world.

"In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End."

In 1139, then-Archbishop Malachy went to Rome from Ireland to give an account of his affairs. While there, he received a strange vision about the future that included the name of every pope, 112 in all from his time, who would rule until the end of time. We are now at the second last prophecy.

His predictions are taken very seriously. As one report states, "In 1958, before the Conclave that would elect Pope John XXIII, Cardinal Spellman of New York hired a boat, filled it with sheep and sailed up and down the Tiber River, to show that he was 'pastor et nautor,' the motto attributed to the next Pope in the prophecies."
http://abcnews.go.com/International/benedict-xvi-pope-irish-prophet-malachy/story?id=8499430

[laconicsax]

11. There's a persistent typo in that article. n/t