WikiLeaks bares even tiny Vatican’s diplomatic soul
The Vatican may be the world’s smallest state but even its diplomatic soul has been laid bare by WikiLeaks cables covering everything from sex abuse and media blunders to old “technophobic” cardinals. Cables sent from the U.S. embassy to the Vatican to the State Department depict Pope Benedict as sometimes isolated as aides try to protect him from bad news, and say his number two is seen as a “yes man” with little credibility among diplomats.
The cables were published by the Guardian newspaper, one of several news organizations with have been given access to the leaked cables from U.S. embassies around the world.
A long cable in February 2009, though couched in diplomatic language, reads like a scathing criticism of the Vatican’s internal and external communications structures, which are held responsible for some of Pope Benedict’s biggest public mishaps. “The Holy See’s communications operation is suffering from ‘muddled messaging’ partly as a result of cardinals’ technophobia and ignorance about 21st century communications. Only one senior papal advisor has a Blackberry and few have e-mail accounts. It has led to PR blunders on issues as sensitive as the Holocaust,” a U.S. diplomat writes.
The cable calls the pope’s inner circle of advisers old “Italo-centric” men uncomfortable with information technology and the “rough and tumble of media communications.”
“There is also the question of who, if anyone, brings dissenting views to the pope’s attention,” it says.
Catholic bishops must take more action on sexual abuse – Vatican
The Vatican has told Roman Catholic bishops around the world that they will have to take more responsibility to prevent sexual abuse of children by priests. It also said in a statement issued after a day-long meeting of cardinals on Friday that it was preparing new guidelines for bishops on how to deal with the sexual abuse, including cooperation with local authorities.
Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world held a rare gathering to discuss religious freedom, sexual abuse of children by priests and accepting converts from the Anglican church.
Cardinal William Levada, the American head of the doctrinal office headed by Pope Benedict before his election, spoke of “greater responsibility of bishops for the protection of faithful entrusted to them,” the statement said.
The closed-door meeting took place on the eve of a ceremony known as a consistory at which the pope will create 24 new cardinals, including 20 who are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to enter a secret conclave to elect his successor.
The church has been struggling to deal with the scandal in several countries of sexual abuse of children and young people by priests. Levada spoke to the participants about “cooperation with civilian authorities, the need for an effective protection of children and young people and a careful selection of future priests”. His office is preparing a new set of guidelines for bishops on sexual abuse in order to offer “a coordinated and effective program” of response and prevention.
Victims of sexual abuse protested in Rome to coincide with the meeting. They say the Vatican has not done enough to protect children from future abuse. “We want the bishops to turn over to police and prosecutors the personnel files of proven, admitted and credibly accused child-molesting clerics,” said Barbara Blaine, a leader of the U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
“The only way that we can make sure that the children that we all know and the children who attend mass every day are safe is if the church stops fighting and starts cooperating like every other organisation would and should,” SNAP member and abuse victim Lucy Duckworth told a news conference.
An Austrian group that helps people exit the Catholic Church (www.betroffen.at) has documented the systemic abuse of children by Austrian priests, nuns and others, as reported by 325 victims.
The following link goes to an English summary of an extensive report in German, just released today: http://www.betroffen.at/wp-content/uploa ds/2010/11/PKpressetext-englisch.pdf
Pope puts his stamp on Catholic Church future with new cardinals
Pope Benedict installed 24 new Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world on Saturday in his latest batch of appointments that could include his successor as leader of the 1.2 billion member church.
Twenty of the new cardinals are under 80 and thus eligible under church rules to take part in the conclave that chooses a successor after the death or resignation of the current pope.
The new cardinals include Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington D.C., who, as a senior figure in the American capital, will likely play a leading role in the U.S. church’s response to the sexual abuse scandal.
At a pre-consistory meeting on Friday, the Vatican told bishops they would have to take more responsibility to prevent sexual abuse of children by priests and said it was preparing new guidelines for bishops on how to deal with the sexual abuse, including cooperation with local authorities.
The German pope has now named 50 of the 121 electors who can pick his successor from among their own ranks, raising the possibility that the next pontiff will be a conservative in Benedict’s own image. Popes usually reign for life but Benedict, 83, has not ruled out the possibility of resigning for health reasons. The last time a pope resigned willingly was in the 13th century.
World cardinals hold rare Vatican meeting on abuse, converts
Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world met in a rare gathering at the Vatican on Friday to discuss religious freedom, sexual abuse of children by priests and accepting Anglican converts. The debate on religious freedom unfolded against the backdrop of a fresh Vatican conflict with China’s communist government over the ordination of a bishop without papal permission.
The closed-door meetings were taking place on the eve of a ceremony known as a consistory at which the pope will create 24 new cardinals, including 20 who are under 80 and thus eligible to enter a secret conclave to elect his successor.
The existing cardinals and cardinals-elect will also hear reports about the sexual abuse scandal which has rocked the Church in a number of countries.
Guestview: Why has Pope Benedict chosen a European strategy?
Pope Benedict will boost the European majority among the men due to elect his successor when he creates 24 new cardinals at the Vatican on Saturday. The nominations are part of a wider strategy by the German-born pope to strengthen Roman Catholicism in Europe. The following is a guest contribution and the views expressed are the authors’ alone. Jean-Marie Guénois is deputy editor-in-chief of the Paris daily Le Figaro and a specialist on religion. The article first appeared in French on his Religioblog.*
By Jean-Marie Guénois
We always knew that Benedict XVI is a European pope, but lately he’s been proving this more and more clearly. In this phase of his five-year papacy, the the old continent is clearly his priority. For the past two years, the European destinations have taken precedence over all his travel (France, Czech Republic, Malta, Cyprus, Portugal, United Kingdom). Twelve of his 18 international trips have also been devoted to Europe. As for the visits due next year, they will all be in Europe: Croatia, Spain and Germany (his third visit there as pope).
The choice of these medium-haul flights could be explained, of course, by his age. At 83-1/2, Benedict takes it slow and easy. Must we recall the health of John Paul II at the same age, six months before his death in 2005? But the real explanation for these short-distance, time-saving trips is surely elsewhere. How can we best explain this? It can be done explicitly, through the speeches the pope delivered in those countries. But also implicitly, through the diagnosis bishops bring to Rome on the state of the European churches.
The diagnosis has led to a strategy that can be seen more and more clearly. After his visit to Spain, this seems confirmed by the clear priority given to the Iberian Peninsula. In fact, Spain, Italy and Poland are emerging emerge as the three pillars which underpin this implicit strategy by the Holy See.
This strategy does not aim to reconquer old ground, because the past will not return. It’s not exclusive either, because the world is wide and complex. The aim is to survive and face up to the decline of European Christianity now seen in Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria and the Netherlands. The former bastions of Catholicism there may still be very much alive but they are in the minority.
So there is a tactical withdrawal underway to focus on these three countries where the Catholic Church still is a major force in society. There, the Holy See wants to reassure, consolidate, preserve and revitalize the role it can play. Benedict has understood that while the global epicenter of Catholicism shifts every day to the southern hemisphere, that vast region can never replace the weight of history and culture. Given that fact, he believes, Christianity has not spoken its last word in Europe.
After an African-American president, an African pope?
If you start seeing pictures of the man at the right or hearing his name now and then, here’s why.
On the international Godbeat, it’s never too early to start speculating about who will become the next pope. The current head of the world’s largest church, Pope Benedict, is admirably fit at 82, but facts like that never discourage avid Vatican watchers. “Vaticanistas” look beyond the present pope to find who else stands out in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Who’s on his way up? Who’s taking on important jobs? Who’s out there publishing books or giving lectures or visiting other cardinals or doing anything else that looks like — perish the thought! – a subtle campaign in an unofficial race whose candidates never throw their birettas into the ring.
It looks like Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana is now firmly in this group known as the papabili, or possible popes, thanks to an important job he’s doing this month. He’s the relator, or secretary general, of the Synod for Africa, a major meeting of African bishops in Rome to discuss the Church’s future on that continent. Previous cardinals who served in such posts include the future popes John Paul II and Benedict. Like another African cardinal once tipped for the job, Nigeria’s Francis Arinze (now 77 and retired), he counts among his plus points an on-the-job familiarity with Islam. John Allen, the veteran vaticanista for the U.S.-based National Catholic Reporter, headlined his story on Turkson “Say hello to Africa’s next great hope to be pope.”
Coming after the first non-Italian pope in centuries, it was unlikely that the 2005 conclave would take another daring leap and choose a non-European. The next papal election, whenever it comes, could be different. The received wisdom after the last one was that the Latin Americans had the best chance.
But you never know what the coming years will bring. Catholicism is growing in Africa, in contrast to Latin America. One of Latin America’s best candidates, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, is a player in the current political crisis in his native Honduras and his prospects could depend on how that develops. And you have to wonder if the example of a precedent concerning a world figure outside the Church — the first African-American president, Barack Obama — could exert an indirect influence. Some Catholics may read that and fire off a comment saying politics has absolutely nothing to do with papal elections. Not directly as in the past, but cardinals don’t all live in Sistine Chapel-like isolation from the rest of the world either. Turkson has strong credentials, as do other papabili, and the advantage of personifying some additional quality — hope? equality? change in continuity? – could well work in his favour.
P.S. — For what it’s worth, the Dublin-based bookmaker Paddy Power still has Arinze topping its betting list with odds on who will be the next pope. Turkson is nowhere among the 44 names mentioned (including Bono in last place). Paddy Power took the 2005 conclave so seriously that it sent a man out to Rome to keep up with the buzz. Will Turkson’s name appear on this list after the Synod for Africa is finished?
UPDATE: At a meeting with journalists in Rome on Monday, Cardinal Turkson was asked about this speculation, Catholic News Service reports. “An African pope? Why not?” he asked. “If by divine providence — because the church belongs to God — God would wish to see a black man as pope, then thanks be to God,” he said.
Who cares? Just shows how gullible people are to do what some guy wearing a funny hat says and give him their money. Oh well, it’s their money to give. No skin off my snout. I’d like to put on a funny hat and tell people they owe me money, too, but I guess the catholics have a monopoly on that. Oh well, they’ve been at it a long time and have the routine wired.
Who’s the star when the Vatican distributes new red hats?
For a journalist writing about the Vatican, whenever the pope names new cardinals, the eternal question returns — what’s the lead of the story? Who is the most important new member of the College of Cardinals , the elite “club” of men who advise the pope and who — if they are under 80 — can enter a conclave to elect his successor.
It’s less of a problem if you’re writing for a national newspaper or a specific audience. If your news organisation is American, you can lead off with the Americans. If it’s Italian, you shine the spotlight on the Italians. If you’re French, you glorify the French, and so it goes.
Writing for an international news organisation like Reuters has always posed some difficulties with such stories.
So, when Pope Benedict named 23 new cardinals on Wednesday, the quandary was there again. After the short urgent stories merely reporting that the cardinals had been named — a sort of numbers game — we decided to give the story a global flair, but at the same time shine light on the appointment of Emmanuel III Delly, an Iraqi who is Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans.
Although he has just turned 80 and so would not be able to enter a conclave, the honour given to Delly by raising him to the elite ranks of the Church appeared to be a gesture by the pope to support the Christian minority in Iraq and the Middle East. Benedict has often lamented the dwindling number of Christians in the Middle East and has supported efforts to improve their lot in a state of war. Delly has frequently warned that the Middle East, the birthplace of Christianity, could soon be emptied of its Christians because so many were emigrating to escape the violence there.
Also interesting — and surprising — was the naming of Archbishop Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston in Texas. As some observers such as John Allen of the U.S.-based National Catholic Reporter pointed out, the appointment seemed to be a recognition that the Catholic population in the United States has been shifting from the East to the Southwest, reflecting changes in immigration patterns and the growing Hispanic population.
The other American to get the red hat was Archbishop John Foley, one of the most well-known figures in Rome. Foley is perhaps one of the most media-friendly people in the Vatican. For many years he headed the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and was a godsend to many visiting journalists. Foley, a Philadelphian who once worked as a journalist himself, explained the “mysteries” of the Vatican to many who came to Rome for brief assignments, such as to cover the death of John Paul and Benedict’s own election in 2005. Foley’s name was mentioned often as a candidate for the red hat in the past but for some reason he was always passed over. He reacted to his nomination this way in an interview with Vatican Radio.
-
Resident FaithWorld Expert
-
