Rod Dreher

View From My Dang Table

Vatican Glasnost, Vatican Perestroika

By Rod Dreher • May 29, 2012, 12:56 AM

Have you been following the Vatileaks scandal? I thought it was fairly small potatoes a couple of days ago. Boy, was I wrong. From AFP’s report:

As the Vatican moves to root out whistle blowers who have been copying and leaking private documents straight from Pope Benedict XVI’s desk, rumours have been circulating in the Italian media over whether the plot may run deeper.

Frustration over the management of Church scandals in recent years — from allegations of money-laundering to clerical sex abuse — has apparently led some to begin preparing the way for their chosen candidate to become future pope.

“A group of cardinals has begun to act on a very ambitious aim: to take the secretary of state, and then, conquer the conclave (the assembly which elects a new pope) with a chosen pope among them,” said La Repubblica newspaper.

Rumours are that there are around 20 whistle blowers who have been supplying the media with documents — at least two have spoken out anonymously — and it is not clear if the Holy See will be able to patch up the damage done so far.

“What’s certain is that Tarcisio Bertone will not come out of this in a positive light,” said Vatican expert Sandro Magister.

“The shortcomings of his governance are clear for all to see,” he said, adding that the pope might replace him “in the next few months.”

According to expert Bruno Bartoloni, the “Vatileaks” scandal may be the last straw for many in an institution dogged by bad governance and corruption.

“This scandal has enormous consequences, it will create unease and exasperation among the cardinals,” he said.

“They want to find someone who can do a serious clean up. But in cleaning up, they risk starting a revolution,” he added.

Magister is generally well respected. For his part, John L. Allen, also well respected, says this is a big, big deal; Allen’s coverage is well worth following.

I wonder what a “revolution” would mean in the Vatican? Serious question. Please give me some serious answers.

21 Responses to Vatican Glasnost, Vatican Perestroika

Charles Curtis says:

May 29, 2012 at 1:41 am

Well, obviously this is yet another harbinger of the near impending election of Petrus Romanus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_the_Popes

Which supernaturally signifies to the elect that it is time to head for the hills. Not the Judaean or Roman hills, mind. More the trackless foothills of the Canadian Rockies, where the minions of anti christ and raving zombie hordes will need compete with Sasquatch and grizzlies for the pleasure of ravishing your emaciated irradiated carcass in the post atomic waste.

It also finally and clearly shows the bishop of Rome is infallibly ordained by God as the patriarch of the Church Universal. For there is absolutely no way that the largest and oldest and in most ways most beautiful thing ever created by humanity could possibly not be divinely protected given the utter incompetence (and oftentimes far worse) perpetually demonstrated by her leadership. O Domine miserere. Iesus Christus miserere. Kyrie eleison.
Gentillylace says:

May 29, 2012 at 3:02 am

In my opinion, a revolution in the Vatican would allow qualified laypeople (both men and women) to run the day-to-day temporal affairs of the Catholic Church, and let the clergy specialize in the strictly spiritual aspects of the Church (liturgy, canonizations, etc.). The Pope would be a figurehead monarch in temporal matters, rather like the Queen of England.

Also, papal elections might become more democratized, with a wider electorate. Why not have active practicing Catholics throughout the world who have been confirmed in the Church – clergy of all levels and laity of both sexes — vote in papal elections? The qualifications for a prospective pope would be bishops who are at least 35 years old, thus making the candidates plausible leaders of the Church. Of course, people might end up voting for the bishop of the diocese where they live or a bishop, archbishop or cardinal who is well-known, so there would be a runoff between the top two vote-getters in order to have the new pope have a mandate of least 50% + one vote of active practicing Catholics throughout the world who have been confirmed in the Church.

How does that sound? As a Catholic laywoman who is active in her parish, I would not mind voting for Pope, but currently I feel that I know little of most bishops.
SecularMisanthropist says:

May 29, 2012 at 8:34 am

I have been following it and I wondered whether you would post on it. Knowing nothing about Vatican politics I don’t know what to make of it. However, since the butler did I,t I will brush up on my Agatha Christie plots.
MattSwartz says:

May 29, 2012 at 9:00 am

I think that Benedict’s sermons about Justification by Faith are revolutionary.

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20081119_en.html

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20081126_en.html

For a Protestant like me, they’re the equivalent of Deng liberalizing the Chinese economy: they didn’t make China’s problems go away, but they did show that China was trying something new, and that it’s leadership was re-examining problems rather than holding the line.

It is said that one of the ways that the Vatican bureaucracy exerts power over the Pontiff is by translating (and even editing) his statements in ways that suit their own interests. I think these two documents, with their use of quotations, might show a little of that.
SiarlysJenkins says:

May 29, 2012 at 9:52 am

Well, if this runs from a Cardinal Gorbachev to a Cardinal Yeltsin to a Cardinal Putin, it won’t amount to fundamental change, despite the best of intentions. But the analogy probably wasn’t intended to be so eidetic. Whenever you have a self- perpetuating hierarchy, you will have intrigue, which sort of undermines the notion that the top dog who emerges from all the intrigue is really Christ’s personal representative. After all, Mr. Ratzinger got the top job after years of intriguing for it also.
Narutaki says:

May 29, 2012 at 10:03 am

Good! The Vatican desperately needs new leadership – one that’s unafraid to crack down on sex scandals, corruption, and serious ideological deviation equally. This bunch of leaders seems to be one dogged by weakness and unseriousness. There seems to be a general denial of how bad things are, both within the church and in terms of the attacks on the church from the outside. It’s not one thing, it’s everything – they just seem unwilling and unable to crack down on anybody over anything. When that’s the case, and people know it, things get out of hand. Which they have.

As much as I hate to make a somewhat banal comparison in all of this, the next Pope needs to be something of a Tywin Lannister. If you’ve read the books, Tywin’s father was so weak that his holdings went to chaos. Scandals and corruption broke out, order broke down, and nothing got done. Tywin cleaned house and put things in order, though it took him twenty years in order to do it, and he came away with a reputation as being a total a-hole. The next Pope is going to have to be fearless, cagey, realistic, and a man with an iron backbone who is utterly unafraid of being unloved by many. We need a stone cold buttkicker in the Vatican. Who will bring us one?
MarkP1971 says:

May 29, 2012 at 10:19 am

Anti-Popes? Whore of Babylon Language getting a boost? A good round of St. Malachy prophecy? Beyond the fun I suppose it is tough to say without knowing the disposition of those revolting. It could be law-and-order types wishing to clean things out morally which would probably be spun as a new inquisition or a Bonfire of the Vanities. It could just be those who want to continue in bad deeds using a liberal theology akin to the old Clinton One Grope Rule if you say the right things.
Christopher Larsen says:

May 29, 2012 at 10:24 am

Fiscal oversight by an independent board of directors in the manner this occurs for a 501(c)(3) here in the States, open, transparent accounting, public access to all financial records.
sophiebook says:

May 29, 2012 at 10:31 am

Years ago, while doing my masters degree, I took a seminar on Vatican history. It was fascinating. Way more than I thought it would be. But what struck me the most was the teacher. He was an old priest, a firm believer in God, but totally desillusioned on all things related to the Vatican. Basically, all he talked about was the corruption, the intrigues, the widespread immorality. And as he was talking, teaching us about centuries of Vatican history, it was clear he wasn’t hoping for any change. The roots were just too deep. This was back in 1996!

I honestly don’t know what a revolution would mean in the Vatican. But everytime I read or hear about what’s going on, I think about my former teacher (he passed away a couple of years ago) and wonder what he would think of the leaks. I sincerly think he would be pleased. And cautiously optimistic, for it is hard to go against the tide of history.
The_Ghost_of_Jaybird says:

May 29, 2012 at 11:45 am

Well, there’s also the fact that Tywin Lannister was only able to set his house right by becoming an amoral monster. And I’m not sure that the the implicit analogy between House Lannister as a power-and-money-obsessed shadow-ruling clan and the Catholic Church is one that you really want to make, but I love Game of Thrones, so +1 for the reference I guess.
thomas tucker says:

May 29, 2012 at 12:25 pm

I’ll just say that revolution in this context does not mean what people would ordinarily consider as a revolution.
Rrsurgam says:

May 29, 2012 at 1:02 pm

Yawn. This is small potatoes, typical Italian politics. You have to be non-Italian to be scandalized by this. If these intrigues bring down Cardinal Bertone, all the better. The Salesian mafia in the Curia needed to be undermined like yesterday.

It’s interesting that nothing that has been leaked is surprising or Earth-shattering. Just embarrassing for certain petty, greedy and worldly personalities— like Wikileaks. Pope Benedict has come out of it smelling like a rose.

You know what surprises me? That people are still surprised that institutions and bureaucracies
Rrsurgam says:

May 29, 2012 at 1:05 pm

You know what surprises me? That people are still surprised that institutions and bureaucracies populated by human beings are rife with human frailty and corruption.
JimmyQuiggs says:

May 29, 2012 at 1:29 pm

Matt, maybe you could elaborate. Just not sure how creative editing might be applied here. I see nothing revolutionary in content, maybe perhaps in approach. I see this more as a clarification than a reevaluation. As my Catholic theology professors took great pains to express , in the Eternal Covenant faith and works are meant as two sides of the same coin. This is precisely how we balance the discussion of faith and works in Galatians/ Romans with James’s Epistle. The real difficulty in dialogue with our Protestant brethren is the equivocation of Works of the Law in the the Mosaic Covenant with the general idea of works, i.e. the actions Christians are called upon to take. As Pope Benedict highlights, these works as a general concept are evidence that we have conformed ourselves to Christ in love- see the portion below:

In this is the ”Further observances are no longer necessary. For this reason Luther’s phrase: “faith alone” is true, if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love. Faith is looking at Christ, entrusting oneself to Christ, being united to Christ, conformed to Christ, to his life. And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence to believe is to conform to Christ and to enter into his love. So it is that in the Letter to the Galatians in which he primarily developed his teaching on justification St Paul speaks of faith that works through love (cf. Gal 5: 14).”
JimmyQuiggs says:

May 29, 2012 at 1:41 pm

Rod, I won’t let you fool me into thinking once again that something interesting is going on in the Roman Curia. It’s all just tares among the wheat, so much more worldliness sometimes than impractical sanctity. Corruption is fairly commonplace, especially in the Mediterranean. It bubbling to the surface like this is only mildly tittilating, and I think a fairly good sign. Not a great sign, mind you, just good. That’s why I’m reading your blog and not Whispers in the Loggia right now. Saintliness, sanctity, divinization… only this is truly revolutionary. Everything else is commonplace.
Narutaki says:

May 29, 2012 at 2:11 pm

Well, we *do* need something of a monster, or at least someone who’s willing to be called one. JPII was a rock star – loved and respected. B16 is a shy academic, and not a boat-rocker. When the next Pope, if he does, starts excommunicating “pro-choice” Catholic politicians (something that should have been done 40 years ago), or tells the Leadership Conference of Religious Women to fall in line or get out, the secular press certainly will call him a “monster”. When he, if he does, starts cracking down on corruption and sex scandals, many within the church will think him a monster – especially the Italian old-boys club in the Vatican.

Of all the faults a leader can have, one of the most dangerous and insidious is being overly concerned with being liked. Bill Clinton had that fault, and it paralyzed him. Thus he left office after eight years, still widely popular, but having accomplished nearly nothing, and was quickly forgotten. Anyone with the strength of will to really put the Vatican’s house in order is going to be absolutely reviled by a lot of people. He’ll be called a monster, a fascist, a tyrant, a demon – every possible insult you can think of. That’s what happens when someone has to be the one to start saying “no” to people. It’s not a very popular position to take. But someone has to do it. And soon.
Dave Dutcher says:

May 29, 2012 at 2:57 pm

This was actually what Benedict was supposed to be, remember? All the press about how he was a tough, pugnacious enforcer. The irony is that he wasn’t.

I don’t know, but generally when you need to work through these kinds of intrigues, either the person you are against is monstrously powerful and vindictive, or you aren’t on the side of the angels. My guess is the latter.
Sur Veilled says:

May 29, 2012 at 5:32 pm

A Vatican Revolution?
Perhaps his Holiness can call upon those bishops who are still Catholic to assemble and consecrate Russia to the Immacualte Heart of Mary as she quite explicitly requested, and which has not been properly done. She also said that the Pope would perform the consecration, but that “it will be late.” Well, it certainly is getting later and darker with increasing speed.
That would be the revolution! Anything else would just be more clerical politics, guys with fancy clothes fighting over what’s left of the gangrenous patient.
Narutaki says:

May 29, 2012 at 8:01 pm

The press don’t know their butts from a hole in the ground. That they got a story wrong doesn’t mean much.
Joseph D'Hippolito says:

May 30, 2012 at 3:06 pm

Charles, who said the Catholic Church was divinely protected, other than the Church, itself?I suggest you read about the vision of Pope Leo XIII in the 1880s. Essentially, Christ gave Satan permission to destroy the Catholic Church within a century. That vision inspired the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel to protect the Church…though if St. Michael takes his orders from the Triune God (of which Christ is a part), and Christ gives Satan permission to destroy the Church, then how is St. Michael supposed to use his “influence”?

Charles, I suggest you read Ezekiel 34, 1 Samuel 2: 12-36 and Matthew 23. They don’t refer to Catholicism per se but they *do* refer to God’s anger at those who take His name in vain by misusing the authority He entrusted to them.Besides, Jesus referred to the Pharisees as sitting on the “seat of Moses.” That didn’t stop the Romans from destroying Jerusalem in 70 A.D. — along w/the Temple and, effectively, the entire Mosaic sacrificial system.
Joseph D'Hippolito says:

May 30, 2012 at 3:12 pm

Rod, there will be no Vatican “revolution.” Such a revolution would involve massive, honest, total repentence from the trappings of and lust for power, prestige, secular influence and money that has infested the Vatican for centuries. Do you seriously believe that a class of bureaucrats trained to think of themselves as beknighted, superior and unaccoutable even to church authority (cf, Wuerl, Donald) would engage in such repentence, knowing what it would ultimately mean for them personally?

The hierarchy has become addicted to living and acting by personal fiat … Scripture and Tradition be damned. That’s what the USCCB’s protests against ObamaCare really are about; remember, they supported ObamaCare before they opposed it. The hierarchs, however, will be surprised to learn that it will be their skulls that will pave the floor of Hell, as St. John Chrysostom so eloquently said.