Pope talks of Babel as more arrests seem likely
Amid the blizzard of speculation and rumor around 'Vatileaks' and the sacking of the head of the Vatican Bank, the Pope's lengthy reference to Babel in his Pentecost homily took on an extra significance.
- Giacomo Galeazzi
- Vatican City
- May 29, 2012
The Commander of the Vatican Gendarmerie was hard at work Sunday. The Vatican leak inquiry did not end with the arrest of the Pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele so the papal police offices are busy sifting through the “investigative material” that will help find the potential accomplices and individuals behind the leaks.
There are no immediate plans for arrests but not one of the Curia’s members believed the Pope’s butler is the only one responsible. “The affair is not over yet. This is just the beginning,” they said. Behind the Vatican walls there is a growing belief that “Paoletto’s” arrest was not the finishing line but a starting point.
During his homily for Pentecost Sunday the Pope sent out a warning against any manoeuvres or clashes taking place behind his back in the Curia: the Holy See is plunging into a Babel-like chaos in which there is a growing “sense of mistrust, suspicion and mutual fear among men, to the point that they are becoming dangerous to one another.” There was a sense of distress in Benedict XVI’s words as he called for “unity, harmony and truth.”
The three cardinals that direct the actions of the Vatican police (Herranz, Tomko and De Giorgi) seem convinced that that there is someone higher up, a “steering committee” that is polling the strings in the “Vatileaks” affair. If the outside world is given the impression that two different powers and double standards exist within the Holy See, this would be harmful to its image.
That is, if tough measures are adopted against lay employees suspected of betraying their oath of secrecy but Church spies are simply removed and sent to carry out their ministry away from Rome instead of being placed behind bars.
Meanwhile, the Pope’s butler seems to be changing his tune during questioning.
Full Story: Pope shocked at Babel-like confusion in the Vatican
Source: Vatican Insider/La Stampa
To read a detailed report of Pope Benedict's Pentecost homily, click here.
There are no immediate plans for arrests but not one of the Curia’s members believed the Pope’s butler is the only one responsible. “The affair is not over yet. This is just the beginning,” they said. Behind the Vatican walls there is a growing belief that “Paoletto’s” arrest was not the finishing line but a starting point.
During his homily for Pentecost Sunday the Pope sent out a warning against any manoeuvres or clashes taking place behind his back in the Curia: the Holy See is plunging into a Babel-like chaos in which there is a growing “sense of mistrust, suspicion and mutual fear among men, to the point that they are becoming dangerous to one another.” There was a sense of distress in Benedict XVI’s words as he called for “unity, harmony and truth.”
The three cardinals that direct the actions of the Vatican police (Herranz, Tomko and De Giorgi) seem convinced that that there is someone higher up, a “steering committee” that is polling the strings in the “Vatileaks” affair. If the outside world is given the impression that two different powers and double standards exist within the Holy See, this would be harmful to its image.
That is, if tough measures are adopted against lay employees suspected of betraying their oath of secrecy but Church spies are simply removed and sent to carry out their ministry away from Rome instead of being placed behind bars.
Meanwhile, the Pope’s butler seems to be changing his tune during questioning.
Full Story: Pope shocked at Babel-like confusion in the Vatican
Source: Vatican Insider/La Stampa
To read a detailed report of Pope Benedict's Pentecost homily, click here.
















