Sex, Lies and the Vatican
Pope Benedict XVI. (photo: Gregorio Borgia/AP)
Sex, Lies and the Vatican
07 March 13
Longtime Vatican reporter John Thavis’s new book is full of revelations about the last papal conclave, on the pope’s jet, and the sex scandals under Benedict’s reign.atican insider John Thavis always had a hunch Pope Benedict XVI would retire. But he had no idea it would coincide with the release of his book Vatican Diaries, which was published on February 21. "I'd like to say I had planned it that way," he told The Daily Beast in the Vatican's press office days after the papal resignation. "But it was just a happy coincidence."
Thavis's book is a notebook dump of sorts gathered
from 30 years working as a Catholic News Service Vaticanista-the
official term used for Rome journalists who have personal cellphone
numbers for cardinals and high-ranking Roman Curia prelates. While his
book would have been interesting for Church watchers before Benedict's
resignation, it will surely become a veritable handbook on all things
Vatican now that the world is watching who the cardinal electors choose
as a new pope.
The book begins with a bit of behind-the scenes gossip
about the last conclave eight years ago, when Joseph Ratzinger became
Pope Benedict XVI. As is the practice, the cardinals vote in secrecy in
the Sistine Chapel and burn their ballots after each vote. When they
have not reached a conclusion, the smoke that comes from the chimney on
top of the Sistine Chapel is black; when they have elected a new pope,
Thavis describes how a chemical substance is added to turn the smoke
white. That signal, in conjunction with the ringing of St. Peter's bells
is how the cardinals announce "Habemus papam." But, as Thavis
describes, not only did the cardinals have a difficult time lighting the
stove, making the scene akin to a bunch of men around a barbeque, but
at one point the back draft filled the ancient chapel with thick smoke,
no doubt a secret they were hoping to keep from the art historians who
monitor Michelangelo's ceiling masterpiece.
Then, once they got it lit, the white smoke did not
coincide with the ringing of the bells, which sent mixed signals to the
masses who were expecting the chimes to confirm that the smoke was
white. Thavis went to the bell ringer in Vatican City to find out just
why there had been a long delay. Turns out, the jamming devices in the
Sistine Chapel to prohibit electronic eavesdropping on the cardinals had
actually made it impossible for anyone to call the bell ringer to tell
him the smoke was white. Thavis writes how there was a moment of panic
while Archbishop Piero Marini, the head of the liturgical ceremonies,
tried to find a landline to call the bell ringer: "Find a telephone!" he
ordered the guard. "Tell them to ring the campanone! Habemus papam!"
But when they finally did reach the bell ringer, he wouldn't ring the
bells unless Marini himself told him to, according to Thavis.
That meant an even longer delay until the bell ringer
could trust that indeed they had a pope. All the while clerics were
working to vest the new pope and there was a growing concern that
Ratzinger would come out on the balcony to greet the world before the
bells had rung. The explanation of the bell-lapse fiasco is a
little-known detail that was certainly on the minds of those waiting in
St. Peter's Square that day and watching it on television, but now it
means so much more in the context of the impending conclave that is
starting soon.
Thavis also takes his readers on the papal plane,
describing in rarely heard detail what it's like to fly on the Vatican
chartered flight with the pontiff. But rather than focusing on the
pope's public appearances, he gives details about the very unglamorous
life of a Vaticanista and the often contemptuous relationship between
the media and the Vatican warden, who Thavis describes as sardonic in
his control over the press, effectively getting them up at the crack of
dawn and herding them like cattle to waiting pens and shuttle buses.
He also spotlights the pressure the Vatican press
corps is often under to walk the fine line between interpreting the
pope's message without becoming a true bullhorn for the church. He gives
context to the miscommunication that has dogged Benedict's papacy by
explaining how this pope's handlers spent more time correcting "what the
pope meant" than previous popes. On one papal trip, the Vatican press
spokesman actually reworded a statement Benedict made on abortion and
excommunication that Thavis felt crossed the line. "Editing Pope
Benedict's extemporaneous comments had been a common practice from the
very first day of his pontificate," Thavis writes. "Vatican officials
justified it on the grounds that the pope's Italian might need cleaning
up, and an imprecise or inelegant phrase should be quickly amended. The
idea of a midlevel bureaucrat fine-tuning Pope Benedict's language may
sound strange, but it reflects a deeply entrenched conviction that the
actual words a pope pronounces are not definitive until the 'official
version' is published. Usually the editing was merely annoying, but in
this case it was an attempt to rewrite reality."
Thavis wastes no words on his condemnation of the
Vatican's handling of the various sex-abuse scandals that have rocked
the church in the 30 years he has been covering the Vatican beat. He
dedicates several chapters to the unsavory sex-abuse cases the Catholic
Church has been involved in, and manages to explain in laymen's terms
the very complicated Legions of Christ scandal by walking through a
series of investigations and interviews by high-ranking church officials
including the Vatican's promoter of justice. He focuses on the lurid
life of Legions founder Father Marcial Maciel Degollado and paints as
vivid a character profile of the disturbingly strange man as has been
written to date. Father Marcial, as he is referred to, was a favorite of
Benedict's predecessor Pope John Paul II, despite a myriad of
allegations of sexual improprieties and financial corruption. Benedict,
as pope, finally put an end to Marcial's reign amid his apologies to
seminarians he sexually abused and his admission that he had fathered
several children with different women. "Nowhere was there any hint that
the order itself bore any responsibility for a cover-up; on the
contrary, the Legion's highest officials were portraying themselves as
victims of Maciel's duplicity," Thavis writes. "And while the Legion was
admitting to the founder's extramural heterosexual affair-he was human,
after all-it refused to touch the more serious allegations that Maciel
had turned his own seminary into a pedophilia camp."
Thavis may not have known that his book would coincide
with Benedict's sensational resignation and a historical conclave when
there is still a living pope, but he certainly was prophetic in his last
chapter, which is a succinct and unapologetic tribute to the former
pope. He wades through the various incarnations of Benedict's papacy,
from his gaffes to his more meaningful moments, painting a human
portrait of a man who shocked the world with his resignation. "When an
organ is tuned and well played, he said, it produces wonderful music,"
Thavis recalls of Benedict's trip to Regensburg. "Dissonant notes are a
sign of problems. In both cases, he explained, "an expert hand must
constantly bring disharmony back to consonance." This was the real
Benedict. A man who saw himself as maestro. Faith was the music that
never disappointed. He knew this music well, and he knew the consolation
and satisfaction it offered."
1 comment:
I used to be able to find good information from your blog articles.
My blog ... safe diets
Post a Comment