June 5, 2012        Dr Robert Moynihan

 The Butler Was (Evidently) Not Alone       (June 3)

==========================

The "Vatileaks" case is not closed. 

At least one more person is still releasing secret Vatican documents, according to an article published this morning in Rome's La Repubblica newspaper, and one of those documents is a letter written by American Cardinal Raymond Burke to the Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, expressing perplexity for the fact that he was not informed about an important liturgical decision taken without his knowledge (see full text below). 

And the person who has revealed these three documents claims to possess "hundreds" of other, not-yet-published, Vatican secret documents. 

If this is true, more revelations may lie directly ahead.

In La Repubblica's account, the source releasing the new documents, who is evidently someone who works in the Vatican, aims to strike two highly placed Vatican officials very close to the Pope: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Benedict's increasingly controversial Secretary of State, who is now 77; and Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, 55, one of Benedict's two personal secretaries.

The attacks on Bertone, according to sources here I have been able to consult, stem from the fact that Bertone has profoundly offended a number of other cardinals by the way he has exercised his authority. These sources say that Bertone, for example, has written letters to other cardinals telling them Pope Benedict wishes them to do something, like step down from an office they hold; however, the sources say, when the cardinals involved have directly contacted the Pope, the Pope has said the wishes expressed in the letters from the Secretary of State were not, in fact, his wishes; the cardinals have, therefore, stayed at their posts. Note: I have not been able to confirm that this is what actually happened; I can anly say with certainty that this is what is being said happened, and that this is being held out as a key reason a number of cardinals and other high-ranking prelates have turned sharply against Cardinal Bertone. 

Why Monsignor Gaenswein is under attack is not entirely clear. But the La Repubblica source claims that the contents of letters signed by Gaenswein are not being revealed because they would be "offend the person of the Holy Father" ("non pubblichiamo in modo integrale per non offendere la Persona del Santo Padre") and that the letters regard "shameful cases inside the Vatican" ("vergognose vicende all'interno del Vaticano").

================

A Concert at La Scala

About one million pilgrims came to Milan for Church's 7th World Family Meeting. More than 100 speakers from 27 countries spoke in defense of traditional family life at the event.

On Friday evening, June 1, the Pope attended a concert of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, directed by Daniel Barenboim, at the famed La Scala Opera House. 

Following the concert, the Holy Father praised the work, treating Beethoven's music as a way into a profound theological reflection on the meaning of suffering, especially in light of a terrible earthquake that struck central Italy last week.

The 9th symphony is famous for its final movement, often called the “Ode to Joy” after the poem by the late 18th century German playwright, poet and philosopher, Friedrich Schiller, whose words provide the texts for the four solo voices and chorus that have parts in the symphony’s culminating section.

“At this concert,” said Pope Benedict, “which was to be a joyous celebration on the occasion of this meeting of people from almost all nations of the world, there is the shadow of the earthquake that has brought great suffering of many inhabitants of our country.” 

He continued, “The words of Schiller’s Ode to Joy sound empty to us – indeed, they do not seem real. We do not feel the divine sparks of Elysium at all. We are not drunk with fire, but paralyzed by grief and so much and such incomprehensible destruction that has cost so many human lives, that took away house and home from so many others.” 

The Pope went on to say, “Even the assumption that above the starry sky there must live a good Father, seems questionable.”

“Is the father is just above the starry sky?” asked Pope Benedict. “Does not His goodness reach us down here? We seek a God who does not stand at a distance, but comes into our lives and our suffering.”

The Holy Father continued, saying, “We do not need unreal talk of a distant God and an easy brotherhood that requires nothing of us. We are in search of God who is near. We are looking for a fraternity that, in the midst of suffering, sustains its fellows and thus helps to go forward.” 

Pope Benedict concluded, noting that after this concert, many would go to Eucharistic adoration – to adore the God, who “has introduced His very self into our suffering and continues to do so: the God who suffers with us and for us, and so has made men and women capable of sharing the suffering of others and of turning that suffering into love.”

“This,” said Pope Benedict, “is precisely what we feel called by this concert to do.”

====================

The Reuters report on the new documents

Here are excerpts from a Reuters report on the publication today of the new secret Vatican dcouments. 

Pope’s top aide Bertone at the centre of Vatican furore

By Philip Pullella

MILAN | Sun Jun 3, 2012 9:11am EDT

(Reuters) - Pope Benedict got no rest on Sunday from a leaks scandal when an Italian newspaper published documents showing that his butler was not the only person in possession of confidential correspondence indicating a Vatican in disarray.

...In its Sunday edition, the Rome newspaper La Repubblica published documents it said it had received anonymously after the arrest of the Pope's butler on May 23.

A note received by the newspaper said there were "hundreds more" documents and that the butler, Paolo Gabriele, was just a scapegoat...

One letter, dated January 16, was sent by Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American who heads a Vatican department, to the pope's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Burke complains that a decision regarding a liturgical matter was taken without consulting his office, which is responsible for such matters.

The person who sent Repubblica the documents also provided two letters signed by the pope's private secretary, Monsignor Georg Ganswein. The newspaper said those letters had everything but the letterhead and the signature whited out.

The newspaper said that in the note accompanying the documents, the person who sent them said the contents had been whited out "so as not to offend the Holy Father" but threatened to reveal the contents...

The person who sent the documents to the paper said Bertone and Gaenswein were "those really responsible for this scandal"...

Last week, Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published the book "His Holiness," which contained more documents...

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Here is a link to the complete Reuters story: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/03/us-vatican-butler-idUSBRE85206N20120603

The La Repubblica Story containing news of the three new documents

Here is the complete text, in Italian, of today's La Repubblica story, containing the news of the three new secret documents. 

One is a letter of January 14, 2012, from Cardinal Raymond Burke to the Secretariat of State, complaining to Cardinal Bertone that he had not been informed in advance about the Vatican's approval of a liturgy for the Neocatechumenate movement, though Burke's office, Burke says, is supposed to be consulted on such matters.

The other two are letters evidently signed by Monsigner Gaenswein, the Pope's private secretary, but the contents of both letters have been whited out.

Here is a link to the original La Repubblica story, in Italian: http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2012/06/03/news/vaticano_il_corvo-36447247/?ref=HREC1-10

You may view these emails at the link: http://www.moynihanreport.com/.